Born for the Battlefield
by Yashblue
Summary: He had left the battlefield years ago, convinced that it was not for him, but the world around him was not convinced it would seem, because he was dragged back right in center of it all, but the strangest thing was that nobody except him was surprised, because they were convinced that he was born for the battlefield
1. Chapter 1

_**DISCLAIMER:- I DON'T OWE Naruto or Kingdom**_

 _ **Western China**_

 _ **245 A.D**_

 _ **SHI PROVINCE, KOKUHI VILLAGE**_

' _Get up you useless bastard... .'_

Those were the words Shin was using to motivate himself to get himself up after being knocked down multiple times again and again 'D _amn it, this blue eyed bastard is strong'_

"Ya know yer taking this a little too seriously, calm down will you, it is just a stupid swo-." "IT'S NOT JUST A STUPID SWORD YOU GOLDEN HAIRED BASTARD." Shin roared suddenly rejuvenated as he charged with all he got.

' _That sword was the last thing Hyou gave to me, I will achieve my dream and hyou's dream, OUR dream with that sword'_ Shin was on his way towards the address that hyou gave him before he was blocked by the goons of Kokuhi village, they tried to pick a fight but he made short work of most of them but then the blond asshole came along and things went downhill. Shin has been trying to get past him ever since, worst part was that he was able to take the sword that Hyou had given him, _'I can't forgive you for that you bastard._ '

'sign' "You really don't learn do you?" the golden haired guy said as he caught shin's wooden sword in his hand without even a flinch while he put his other hand on shin's forehead and stopped him in his tracks.

' _Dammit, not again!_ ' Shin knew what was coming next and he braced himself but much to his shock he was not thrown around like a ragdoll like previous times, he looked up at the man who was much taller than him and saw the man that had kicking the crap out of him look at him curiously' "Exactly what in the blue hell is so special about that sword that you are willing to get your ass kicked because I'm starting to feel like a jerk " he honestly was feeling like an asshole, the kid had a lot of spunk and he was strong as well ' _no wonder this kid sleepwalked his way through all of the guys here_ '

"It's none of your damn business!" Shin roared as he tried to push back against the blonde but without any success ' _Damn it! if there was one thing I was confident about it was my strength but this asshole is not even moving an inch_ ' Shin was getting tired, his breathing had gotten heavier and his muscles were sore _'I have to get to the place Hyou wanted me to but this bastard is tough!.'_

Shin was about to push once again but he couldn't and if you asked him why he would not be able to give you a concrete answer but if he had to take a guess then his guess would be that it had something to do with the shift in the mood of blonde.

' _w-why...WHY DOES THIS GUY SUDDENLY LOOK_ _SO HUGE!'_ Shin was staring wide-eyed into the blue eyes of the blond which had gained an amount of intensity Shin had never seen, it was so overwhelming that the thought of backing down entered Shin's mind and the moment it did it snapped Shin back to reality.

' _WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING? BACKING DOWN? ME?_ ' Shin was feeling embarrassed for even going along that line of thinking. Shin, making up his mind about his next course of action, Took a step back and pulled his wooden sword out of blond's hands much to the blond's surprise and swung the sword with rejuvenated vigor ' _Throughout my life there has only been one thing that had motivated me, that motivated Hyou and that was..IS our dream, if I just stop moving towards our dream the moment I fight someone that can kick my ass then I might as well stop dreaming and go back home and keep being a slave, marry a slave girl, and pump out kids that will also be a slave…LIKE HELL!_ ' For the first time in this entire fight the spiky haired blonde chose to dodge his sword strike instead to catching it in his hands like he had been doing previously, surprise entered the eyes of blonde as he dodged multiple slashes targeted at him from multiple angles. _'I'm never going to swing this sword without purpose 'I will never lose the purpose for which I swing this sword, OUR DREAM OF BECOMING THE GREATEST GENERAL IN HISTORY'_ Shin managed to perform the fastest swing he had ever made from his wooden sword with enough power behind it that the blond felt the need to take a step back for the first time in this fight.

' _GREAT! I think I got some groove back, now I can turn this thing around_ ' Shin had finally regained some of his swagger back and he said what he was about learn what he should not have said.

"Don't you dare think this fight is over you pretty boy fuck."

One could listen a pin drop in a haystack! That was the level of silence that came over the battlefield as the blond's eyes were covered by his 2 long bangs the guy was practically shaking.

What happened next was not good for Shin's ribs

 _ **XXX**_

 _ **XXXX TWO MINUTES LATER**_

 _ **XXX**_

Three Moves

That was how quick it ended, in just three moves

Shin was having a hard time processing what happened as he tried to get up but wheezed out and collapsed due to the pain in his ribs

"I'm more than twice your age and I look badass ya shitty brat" Shin got the impression that he should not open his mouth to retort to that or he would get another spasm of pain from his ribs and he did not want that, not when he was finally recalling what happened

He remembered holding his sword in both of his hands and raising them to perform a powerful downward slash on the blond as he ran towards him as fast as he possibly could all the while the blond stood still until he did not and was right in Shin's face with his head reared back

Shin braced himself for a head butt and his decision for the most part was right because the man had all the intentions to perform a head butt…

The problem was that it was not shin's head that he was targeting it was his hands that were coming down to perform the downward slash

Shin was caught completely off guard by the unorthodox move by the blond and he also did not expect the force that came off the head butt as the fingers of his right hand and the blond's head collided, it was so powerful that Shin was blown back and lost his footing

Shin tried to regain his footing but the blond was already on the move as he snatched shin's sword right from his hands and Shin really could not do much about it as the head butt from earlier actually rattled the bones of his right hand _'oh crap'_ Shin thought and tried to get out of the way but he really could not do anything as the blond performed a full circular motion and smashing the butt end of the wooden sword into Shin's ribs, sending him many a feet away in the process

That was when Shin had lost his breath for a few seconds as he could not breathe at all. It all happened so fast but now that he had regained his breath and a clear consciousness he was trying to think of all the possible options he had…and he could not think of any

'What can I do now? The guy is strong and he has both of my swords too' Shin gritted his teeth in anger and pain…mostly in pain as he clutched he left side 'Damn it! It hurts too! this situation just keeps getting worse, I'm already late, I should have been at the place that Hyou wanted me to go to by now but I'm struck at this place with this stupid blonde with his three moves of doom '

Shin noticed that the blond had stopped ranting about how he was not a pretty boy and he was actually examining the sword Hyou had given him and his eyes narrowed and had gained a sort of seriousness that Shin had not seen the blond have before as the man turned and faced him

"How did you get this sword?"

"I told you it was none of your business" Shin's really did not feel like talking about Hyou and relive all that had transpired within last four hours because he knew it would exhaust him mentally and that was the last thing he wanted, he could not afford any of that, not now, not in front of this guy

The blond looked annoyed and voiced his displeasure "look kid, it may not look it but I like you, I really do, you've got guts, not many can face me and not piss their pants but you went a step further and made me use a sword too, now granted I was not actively trying to kill you but still the point stands that I don't want to kill you so why don't you just answer some of my questions and call it a day." the blonde man asked in an annoyed tone

He was not the only annoyed person and Shin made it known to him "I don't have time for your stupid questions, I'm already late I would have made it to the place by now if it wasn't for you goons hell I probably would have beaten you if I was not worried about being late."

There was a tick mark on the blonde man's face at hearing the word goon but he took a deep breath before speaking "I doubt it kid, men and women far stronger then you have tried and failed but that is besides the point, you did mention that you have to go someplace right, so let's cut a deal then, I make sure you reach your destination and you answer my questions, how about it? Just tell me how you got the sword "

Shin looked at the man suspiciously as he asked a question himself "Why are you so curious about how I got that sword anyway?"

The blonde man answered immediately with a pointed gaze directed at him "Because that sword has no business getting out of royal palace, not when our king is a just thirteen"

Shin was surprised not only by the implication of what the blonde said but also by his knowledge "what? How can you say that?"

The blonde did not remove his pointed gaze for once as he spoke again "yeah, that sword is not something that even your run of the mill nobles get their hands on, so either you are a thief so talented that you entered the royal palace and stole a king's personal guard's sword without losing your head or some serious shit has hit the fan that I'm not aware of, now stop being annoying and answer the damn question" there was some force behind the man's words

Shin was at the loss of words 'This guy seems to know more about the situation then I do and he was not even involved in this mess ten minutes ago' Shin was actually contemplating asking for his help

"if I tell you everything, will you help me get to get to place where the rivers meet?" Shin always had a talent of understanding someone after clashing swords with them and on some level he knew that if this man made a promise he would keep it

The blonde replied readily "Kid, I will make sure that you reach that place faster than if you would have if you went ahead yourself without any damage just answer some of my questions"

Shin looked at him for a full minute before signing "(sign) fine"

 _ **XX**_ _ **XXX 5 Minutes later XX**_

Shin was looking down at the ground after he had told everything, just saying it all out loud for the first time had got him exhausted, tears were already threatening to fall but he controlled himself, he could not cry, he had already wasted too much time crying

He looked up at the blonde when he made a 'hmm' sound all the while looking up in the sky, he could tell that the man was definitely thinking about something far more productive then he was

The man spoke for the first time in the past five minutes "Did Hyou ask you and your master not to touch his body and not move him from where he laid?"

Shin was surprised by the man's knowledge "yeah he did."

The man made a 'hmm' sound again followed by a quite "smart kid, Brave too"

The man again asked a question "How old was Hyou?"

"Thirteen"

"And what was he wearing?"

Shin was about to go off on the man for asking stupid questions before he actually stopped when it hit him "..He was dressed like royalty!"

The blond man was looking at the stars once again as he began speaking again "Yeah, that kid was being used as a body double."

Shin was taken aback by that conclusion "WHAT?"

"Really think about it, why would Shou Bun Kun would go out of his way to get a thirteen year old slave boy when he has a parade of nobles that are older and more experienced who would sell their left nut to get the kind of job offer that Shou Bun Kun offered to Hyou but he chose Hyou better yet it's not like he could not pick both of you but he did not pick both of you instead it was just him right? Hyou probably looked a lot like the current king who also happens to be a thirteen year old."

The blond directly looked at him as he spoke "It is definitely not that unusual a tactic Hyou's desire to lay down in the open just confirms this, he was trying to buy you some time."

Shin was already pretty overwhelmed with a wide array of emotions, Anger and rage being the primary ones but he voiced his question first "What do you mean he was trying me some time?"

"Hyou probably looked a lot like the King, otherwise Shou Bun Kun would not go out of his way to get him, Hyou was probably a distraction, he was probably being chased, the ones who are chasing him will stop to take a look around and follow Hyou's blood trail, by just laying there if we are lucky then they will mistake him for the king, cut his head off and return but at the very least they will definitely stop around him and that will buy you some precious time."

Shin was boiling with rage 'These bastards just toyed with Hyou's life like his life did not matter at all, I'M GOING TO KILL EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM.'

Shin would have continued with his murderous thoughts had the blond not continued right after

"Damn, things sure have gotten nasty haven't they but then again if nothing else at least I got something to do to occupy my time at least."

The man stood right in front of Shin and offered him a hand "C'mon kid we don't have much time."

Shin tried to get up by himself but wheezed in pain "Damn it."

The man looked at him unimpressed "Trust me kid, I'm not one of those benevolent heroes in the stories that offer hand for help or whatever, I know for a fact you will have problem breathing let alone walking for a little while and time is a luxury that we don't have, so off with the machismo bullshit and get with the program"

Shin growled and tried to stand up on his own again and succeeded this time "My name is not kid, it's Shin and you better remember it because one day I will become the greatest general in history"

The blonde stared at him wide eyed before he started chucking to himself angering Shin all the more, before he could speak the blond spoke again "Man, you sure dream big but really it seems that you have a good resolve" the blond leveled a pointed stare at him as he spoke his next words somberly "But time will test that resolve I'm sure of it"

The blond went up to Shin and grabbed his arm and picked him up in a piggy back much to Shin's chagrin but before he could voice his displeasure the blond spoke again "Hold tight kid and I know you don't like it but you should not walk for some time now, don't worry though, you will be fine in a couple of hours."

Shin was about to retort to the man's claim but then he remembered that he had not asked the most important question "Hey! I forgot to ask, what is your name?"

The blond had started moving and it looked like he would not answer the question before he spoke again "Well normally I would not give out my name to random folks but you did make me draw your sword and I did block your way so I guess it's only fair, my name is Naruto."

Shin was about to ask more random questions but then the blond started picking up speed..

And some more speed…

And some more speed…

"HOLY SHIT!" Shin was really starting to regret not insisting more strongly on walking on his own

 _ **XX**_

 _ **XXX TEN MINUTES LATER**_

 _ **XX**_

Shin was breathing heavily now that he on his own two feet and it was not due to exhaustion but because of fear he felt for his life ' _Damn, is this guy even human? I'm pretty sure humans are not supposed to move that fast, not with another person on their back any way_ '

Shin still could not forget how the guy was jumping off from rocks to rocks without losing speed or missing steps all the while Shin was screaming like a idiot but Shin was not going to be hard on himself about that _'I still would have preferred the regular route instead of his stupid short cut, at least I would not have felt like I was about to lose my life like half a dozen times but then again…'_

Shin turned around and saw the shack that was supposed to be his destination _'… I did reach this place faster than if I had run on my own so there is that.'_

Shin was getting more and more angry as he moved forward towards the shack that was barely holding up 'Hyou, you sent me here without telling me anything about the mess that you got yourself nor did you allow me to take revenge for you and I did just that, all for this piece of shit shack? I can't accept that, this place better answer the questions I have or you better wish I don't die because if I do then the the first thing I will do is find you and kill you again.'

"Go ahead and see what's inside"

With these strange thoughts in mind Shin entered the shack followed by Naruto.

 **XXXXXXX**

 **INSIDE THE SHACK**

 **30 SECONDS AGO**

Inside the shack was a thirteen year old boy with long black hair who was wearing a red robe that was worthy of a royalty like him for he was the great-grandson of the "God of war" King Sho and he was also the current King of the state of Qin, his name was was Ei Sei.

' _Heh, "King" what a joke'_ Sei thought to himself bitterly, He was a king only in name, he was just an ornament to the throne, there was no way a child like him could govern the whole country. Sei was aware that just like his father he was also being used by the Prime Minister Ryo Fui who has been Sei's for the past year to climb higher and gain even more authority and his one and only true obstacle was the other Prime minister Ketsu Shi who was using his Younger brother Kyou to lead a rebellion and overthrow Sei to make Kyou the king so that he can take control of the whole country.

'A king with no power, I would laugh if my life was not on the line' for some time now Sei has feeling more than just frustration at his current predicament and the reason for that was that he was aware of Ketsu's and Kyou's plans from the start but he could do anything about it, his status as a commoner did not help his situation as many powerful nobels sided with Kyou for the simple fact that that Kyou had royal blood in his veins, he truly was a powerless king the only one he could trust was Shou Bun Kun and now even his life was in danger

' _A lot of people are risking their life for my survival, Shou Bun Kun, Heki, Hyou…Hyou'_

Sei was not close to Hyou, but Sei had nothing but respect for Hyou, Hyou had an outrageous dream and you could feel the resolve behind his words and yet he threw his dreams away without a second thought just to protect him

' _Your friend sure is taking his time Hyou'_ Sei stopped his musings as he heard footsteps and clutched his sword

The person who entered was a boy his age, he was a thin boy with Spiky black hair with a rat-tail on the back of his head, If Sei had to take a guess by the state of his appearance then he would guess that the boy was some run off the mill peasant, he was wearing a sleeveless blue garment fastened with a brown cloth belt.

The boy was looking at him like he had seen a ghost, it looked like he was about to speak before he caught himself as his expression changed, sporting anger this time as he found his voice "You must be the king" the boy Growled

Sei would have struck the boy right there had he not seen the sword on the boys back and he immediately responded "You must be Shin"

Shin was taken aback ' _How does he know my name?'_ Shin was about to voice his question when his companion entered the shack as well

Sei looked at the the new comer and let out a gasp ' _it can't be'_

The man that had come was a tall man who had a similar sleeveless garment fastened with a brown belt but his garment was of orange color and unlike the boy he wore pants too

The man had long spiky blond hair that were tied in a ponytail, he had jaw length bangs that covered both sides of his face but the most peculiar feature of him was the 3 sets of marks on both side of his face that would look like whiskers, all in all he looked like one those guys that people liked to call 'Pretty boys'…something that blond did not like to be referred to as to say the least… a fact Sei was aware of

' _I can't believe it, I never thought I would see him again but he's actually here!'_ Sei would have actually voiced his astonishment had he not been interrupted by what was the beginning of an unpleasant experience

Everyone inside the shack instinctively dodged as a sword slash went above their head

A unanimous thought of 'Shit' went through everyone's head as they were all aware that this poor excuse of a shack was about to come down and their prediction was right

"What on earth is happening here? That hurt" Shin groaned as he tried to get up, he had made a big jump just in time to get out of the collapsing shack but in the process he also landed on his front and his ribs which had been experiencing just a dull ache were now once again in pain

Shin looked around to find the source of the destruction and was greeted with the sight of a very creepy looking tall man dressed in a red and black robe and wore black pants, he had a sword on his back and his arms were crossed as he spoke to the king with a sadistic grin on his face "I have finally found you, and now I will have your head king of Qin, Ei Sei."

The man unfolded his arms and took a step forward as he continued to speak "You nearly had me with that other one, I was thoroughly shocked to learn that two people could who looked exactly alike! And to top it all off that kid was amazing! He was the first one to be given a mortal wound by me and still get away.." The sadistic grin never left the assassin's face until he heard what the man with the blond hair had to say about him

"Either the standards at 'Vicious Scarlet' have gone to shit or you are just a bad apple because you have to really suck as an assassin to be this loud and not even get the job done " Naruto said, not even looking at the man as he was dusting his cloths

"WHAT? YOU DA-" The Assassin from the Vicious Scarlet would have continued but he was once again interrupted

"SHUT THE FUCK UP" Shin was having a hard time controlling himself; these people were talking about something they had no right talking about

"I am sick and tired, tired of you fucks talking about Hyou like an object to be used… that guy had his whole life planned out, he was going to become a great general, make himself a big mansion, marry a beautiful girl.." the emotions Shin was experiencing were overwhelming and making it difficult to speak but he did anyway as he pointed his sword at Sei and growled out "You took that away from him, and for what? Your stupid sibling rivalry? I won't forgive you, you bastard"

Sei had learned to be a level headed guy at a very early age, so it was no surprise that he was able to respond without revealing how angry he was about what Shin said "You think this is stupid?"

Shin replied without missing a beat "Damn right I think it is stupid! To us people who work the fields and such, we couldn't be bothered by who the king is! So screw you, you little…" before Shin could continue he heard the assassin chuckling

"Kuh Kuh Kuh! And here I thought you were his servant or something, if you wanna kill him, I'll let you do it, but I get to keep his head."

Shin was looking at the ground as he spoke "Oh I will kill him, I will chop him limb to limb."

Shin raised his head and looked right in his eyes "But you come first bastard, since you were the one who actually killed, I'm going to hang you by your guts!"

Shin started moving towards the assassin before he was interrupted by Naruto

"Are you sure about this Shin?" Shin looked at the blond and saw that blond was raising his eye brows all the while looking at his chest and Shin immediately got what the blond was getting at

"I'll be fine, don't worry about it" Shin growled and without any hesitation made a dast towards the assassin

 **XX**

 **XXX TWO MINUTES LATER**

 **XX**

' _I can't believe it'_ The assassin thought to himself bewildered by what was happening right now

' _In terms of speed, power and technique this kid and that body double kid are almost the same and yet-'_ the member of Vicious Scarlet blocked another set of attacks that came at him from different angles, each attack had enough power that the assassin could not afford to be lax or he would be in a world of pain and that had forced the assassin on the back foot '- and yet i am actually feeling threatened when I'm facing his attacks' The assassin took a couple of steps back and took a defensive stance so that he could slow down the pace of the battle and gather himself so that he could finish this quickly, in doing so he looked down and was shocked at what he saw ' _WHAT_?'

There were multiple cuts on his garment ' _and I was not even aware of those! This kid is far more dangerous than that other kid,_ ' the man that was responsible for Hyou's death looked at Shin with narrowed eyes, it did not make any sense, how can two people have the same amount of power, speed and technique and yet one of them is far more dangerous

The assassin was correct in his assessment, Shin and Hyou were each other's equals in terms of skills and capabilities but what he was not aware of was that unlike Hyou, Shin was not the least bit intimidated by his presence or killing intent and the reason for that was that Shin had overcome an even greater presence… namely Naruto's presence

' _I have fought someone who felt far bigger and unbeatable then you, compared to that guy you are nothing_ ' Shin thought to himself all the while preparing for his next attack

' _Looks like Hyou was right about Shin being better than him despite being equal in every metric'_ Sei thought to himself, remembering his conversation with Hyou about Shin

The assassin was trying to think of something fast _'I don't like this kid, I have to finish this kid quickly'_ the assassin was not willing to take unnecessary risks but he knew he had to take some

Shin went at the man again, hands raised to bring his sword down for a vertical slash, with the intentions of cutting his head open.. and he missed

Shin was in the middle of stoping his own momentum all the while realizing that the opening was a feint and he fell for it

'Shit' Shin knew he was wide open for any to attack at his left side and the large man was on his left side, Shin did not even bother to look at his left to see the man who was no doubt swinging his sword with both his hands with the intentions of cleaving him in half because it was what he would have done if he was in his opponent's shoes

There was an ear splitting grin on the assassin's face as his sword made contact, it stayed in place when Shin was lifted in the air, the grin started to lessen when he heard a _'clang'_ sound, it completely left his face when he did not see any sort of blood in the air as he was falling towards the ground, the assassin's was sneering when he realized what had happened

'What shit is this? This kid's reflexes are ridiculous; he jumped to the other side using single leg while blocking my attack with a single arm in mid air! ' all of it was not making sense to the man in red and black robes, but it was his reality and it was pissing him off

Shin did not just land, he slid and was right at Naruto's foot, he tried to get up and was reminded why Naruto was warning him "Dammit!" Shin groaned while clutching his side

Shin was having a hard time getting when he heard Naruto speak for the first time "You know this is taking wa more time the it has to."

Shin was having a hard time breathing let alone talking, but he needed to respond to the suggestion Naruto was making "I can take care of him just fine alright! Don't get involved in my f-arg" Shin once again clutched his side in pain

Naruto sighted and for the first time took his eyes off the assassin all the while shin was down, and looked at Shin right in his eyes as he spoke "I saw the fight, I have no doubt that if it wasn't for your ribs you would have won, but fact is your ribs were hurt before you even begun fighting this dude and that despite blocking that last attack your ribs did take the brunt of it, there is a difference between brave and being foolish Shin, and you must recognize that"

Shin glared Naruto as he spoke "You don't get it Naruto, that guy killed Hyou-" "And Hyou wanted you to be a Great general didn't he?"

"What." Shin was at the loss of words, he did not remember telling anything about Hyou's last words to the blond

"The difference between a good general and a great general is that the great general carries the will of his comrades that he loses on the battlefield right on his shoulder as he moves forward"

Shin once again felt what he felt when faced Naruto 'Damn his presence is overwhelming!'

"A Great general is entrusted with protecting not only the citizens of his country but also its pride and the only way to do that is by ensuring that he must wins in the most decisive way, and to do that he has to understand himself and his abilities and he must also recognize that his abilities do not stop at just his intellectual and martial might, it also includes the abilities of his comrades, his soldiers, when a general recognizes reality for what it is instead of what he wants it to be, uses all of his abilities to its fullest potential and ensures the victory of his country, that is what makes a great general"

Shin was not aware of it but he was never going to forget these words

But Naruto was not done speaking "Right now, you know your condition, and you know my capabilities and you know the will of your comrades, if you still insist on fighting this guy then go right ahead but just know this, that you are being very selfish"

Shin stared at the blonde for a few more moments before he replied "..fine"

Naruto let out a dramatic sigh and said dramatically "Good gravy! The things I have to do"

Sei was not aware of it, but he had smiled for the first time in years 'Despite everything that happened you still haven't changed Naruto-san, I'm glad'

The man that was hired to take the head of the Qin king was standing still as was making his way towards him with what looked like a wooden sword of all things in his hand, Now anyone with half a brain would question his sanity, why was he, an assassin of the feared 'Vicious Scarlet' was letting the man known as 'Naruto' give a speech instead of finishing them off, to those people, his reply would be a 'FUCK OFF' they did not experience what he did

He was going to attack the moment the boy was downed but then he looked in the eyes of blond and his will to attack just left his body, The intensity in those eyes just stopped him in his tracks, the man continued to look t him but then his eyes turned cold and it felt like the man was not even looking at him but rather he was looking _through_ him but then they turned disinterested, as if he, the elite of 'Vicious cycle' was not any threat to him, he felt insulted and wanted to kill him right there, but then the blond gave his speech and he was enamored by the whole thing

Now the blond was moving towards him with his wooden sword and he was feeling nervous _'Have I heard this name 'Naruto' before?_ '

"I still maintain my original statement you know, either the standards have dropped or you are a shitty assassin, you brag, you 'Play with your prey' and stretch fights, and worst of all you are not even good at it" Naruto said to him all the while checking Shin's wooden sword

A growl could be heard from the man, this guy might be some hot shit but he was not going to be disrespected by some pretty boy, he voiced his opinion without knowing the consequences

"SHUT UP, I'LL SHOW YOU HOW GREAT AN ASSASIN I AM YOU PREETY BOY FUCK"

The silence that followed after made the Vicious Scarlet member, the blond was no longer checking his sword and the two bangs on his face were covering his eyes

' _He's_ _dead'_ was the thought that went through the head of both Shin and Sei

The blond looked up and he was wearing a smile that screamed restrained anger "You know if time was a luxury that I had then I would make this long and I would make this humiliating.."

Naruto threw away the sword as he spoke "..but losing to a guy who is weaponless should be humiliating enough I suppose"

' _THAT'S IT!'_ No matter who this guy was, it didn't matter, he had his pride as a member of 'vicious cycle' and he was going to protect it

He raised his sword with both of his hand, trying to put all the weight behind his swing with the intentions of cutting him in half

What happened next shocked everyone except Naruto…he was just mildly surprised but for a different reason

' _T-his cant be'_ both the hands of the assassin were still in the air holding his sword, he could not complete his swing becau65wqse Naruto had blocked it…with his bare right hand

Shin could not believe his eyes; the blond had blocked the swing of the man that Shin knew was no joke using his bare right hand without even taking a step back

' _I always knew that Naruto-san was strong, but this..'_ Sei was having a hard time comprehending the sight before him

Naruto looked up and he had a small frown on his face, he saw what he expected to see for the most part, his right hand had twisted to the left and caught the sword between the depth of his thumb and index finger, but what deepened the frown on Naruto's face was the sight of small trickle of blood

"Well I'll be damned, either I underestimated you and you are better than I was giving you credit for or I have gotten rusty…"

Before the assassin could even smile at his words the blond spoke again ".. but then again, even with any of those two scenarios are to be true, it does not change the fact that I'm about to break your nose"

The assassin could not even respond as the blond pushed him using is left hand all the while not losing his grip on the sword, when there was enough distance between them, the blond pulled the assassin in by pulling the s ord in with enough force that the assassin actually stumbled and was forced to take his eyes off of Naruto, when he tried to correct himself he felt like someone struck his nose with a hammer

The assassin was having a hard time comprehending what was going on, but he had enough self awareness to realize that the last attack had lifted him off the ground, ' _What the hell wa-'_ He could not even finish his thought before he felt an attack on his side from his back

* **CRACK*SNAP**POW***

Those were the sounds that echoed throughout the whole area as the assassin landed on his back whimpering helplessly as his ribs had given out, not even knowing how all this happened

Shin was honestly surprised by the fact that his eyeballs had not fallen out of socket because he knew his eyes just continued to widen as the 'fight' ,if you can even call it that, progressed.

Naruto had pulled the guy towards him by pulling his sword all the while moving forward himself, Shin did not remember seeing him trying to bend down but Naruto's face was right in front of the assassin's waist all the while never loosing focus of his target, he was on just single leg, and he had tightened his fist with the intentions of using it like a hammer, as he moved his hammer fist and hit the nose of the assassin, the assassin was lifted in the air by the impact

Shin was so enamored with the sight of the body of the assassin lifted off the ground that he actually missed when the blond had moved right behind the flying body of assassin, Shin did not know if he was Seeing things but to him it looked like the air was moving around the fist of Naruto as he punched the assassin from behind, and then those sounds reverberated through out the area

* **CRACK*SNAP**POW***

Shin hated the fact that he was feeling sorry for the man who killed his best friend, but he could not help it, he was still cringing after listening to that sickening sound

Naruto looked at the downed man who could not seem to form coherent words and then stomped at the had which was holding the sword "and that's that" Naruto said to himself, satisfied with his work. He looked up to see the two boys moving towards him, Shin was openly cringing while looking at the man while Sei looked more in control

"Why did you not kill him?" Sei asked

"Well, I had the intentions of taking this guy down quickly without killing him so that I could ask him some questions so that I could get some information regarding this whole situation, but then he opened his mouth and…yeah" Naruto said, laughing little awkwardly before sighing

Sei would have reminded him that he could do that do but he couldn't do that because there was an alarmed look on the blonds' face, it was the same look that Shin and himself wore onece they felt the vibration from their feet

"Yeah..things just got worse" Naruto said what everybody was thinking

"FIRE"

"GAH""OM MY G-AHH""AAAHH-"

"What's going on there?" Shin had an idea of what it was, but wanted someone to tell him otherwise

"That sounds like an army..and a large one at that" Naruto answered, confirming his fears

Shin looke at different directions and concluded the obvious "WE'RE SURROUNDED" Shin shouted

"Now our only option is the rive-" Sei did not allow Shin to complete his sentence

"That's sealed off too" Sei crushed Shin's hope easily as they saw a large number of boats moving towards them"

Naruto addressed Sei without looking at him "Man, I knew things are probably bad, but I did not imagine 'Royal army moving without Royal seal' bad."

Sei signed in defeat ' _I guess this is my defeat'_

Shin tightened his grim around his sword "Dammit! Looks like I can't rest just yet"

Sei looked at him shocked "You're going to fight against the whole army"

Before Shin could reply Naruto cut him off "No he's not, and no I'm not asking you to surrender king, I know a secrete passage, let's go"

Shin and Sei followed Naruto as he lead them to the secrete passage all the while he was kicking himself mentally _'Dammit, I should have killed that assassin, now I can just hope that I punched him hard enough so that he does not open his mouth, god knows it would just get me in more trouble then I already am'_

TO BE CONTINUED

A/n:- Hope you folks like it, rate and review and you can also ask questions and I will answer them if I think I would not revealing too much


	2. What do i want?

**To** **.73 :-** I don't buy into the battle stats when it comes to the Kingdom, the battlefield is too unpredictable for something like that to be overly significant, but I can say this, even if it was the 1000 man commander Shin, who faced Naruto instead of beginner Shin, the results would have turned out exactly the same, Thanks for reviewing, much appreciated.

 **Disclaimer:- I do not owe Naruto or Kingdome**

* * *

 _Previously.._

 _Shin looked at different directions and concluded the obvious "WE'RE SURROUNDED!" Shin shouted_

" _Now our only option is the rive-" Sei did not allow Shin to complete his sentence_

" _That's sealed off too" Sei crushed Shin's hope easily as they saw a large number of boats moving towards them"_

 _Naruto addressed Sei without looking at him "Man, I knew things were probably bad, but I did not imagine 'Royal army moving without Royal seal' bad."_

 _Sei signed in defeat 'I guess this is my defeat'_

 _Shin tightened his grim around his sword "Dammit! Looks like I can't rest just yet"_

 _Sue looked at him, shocked "You're going to fight against the whole army"_

 _Before Shin could reply Naruto cut him off "No he's not, and no I'm not asking you to surrender king, I know a secret passage, let's go"_

 _Shin and Sei followed Naruto as he lead them to the secret passage all the while he was kicking himself mentally 'Dammit, I should have killed that assassin, now I can just hope that I punched him hard enough so that he does not open his mouth, god knows it would just get me in more trouble than I already am'_

* * *

 _Present time.._

 _ **Chapter Two: What do I want?**_

 _ **Western China**_

 _ **245 A.D**_

 _ **SHI PROVINCE, KOKUHI VILLAGE**_

"IGYAHH"

"AAHH"

"WHAT THE H-ARH"

Those were the sounds that all the people in the secret passage had to listen to as they moved through the secret passage

Shin would look out the holes every now and then; despite it being night time, one could see through them due to the shining moon, and each time he looked through them, he would be greeted with the sight of someone being slaughtered _'Damn!'_

Shin heard the blond man say "This way. It's pitch black, so put your hands on the wall and walk."

"I'll start a fire once we get a little deeper." Sei informed everyone

The three companions walked for a couple of minutes, Shin was having a hard time moving in the dark and he made it known "Oww, dammit, where is that fire you were talking about hu-OW"

Sei sighted as he got to performing the task he said he would do

 ***Snap*..*Snap***

Within next few moments the group was no longer surrounded by darkness

Shin was the first to open his mouth "Well, at the very least you are good at something, it's clear to me that you are not cut out to be the king." Shin was not going to forget everything that had happened that easily

Sei glared at the Shin but could not retort back as Naruto spoke "Oi, are you stupid, that's your king ya' idiot, a whole lot of people are willing to kill people for saying less"

Shin did not back down "Oh yeah, well they sure as shit are not enough, because not too long ago we had what appeared to be royal army hunting this guy down and he could not do shit!" Shin said angrily while pointing towards Sei

Shin was not in the mood to get off of Sei's case, and he didn't "This guy made Hyou his body double and hid himself in this village, and yet he could not squash the uprising by his little brother" Shin scoffed at while glaring at Sei "Yeah, some king he is"

"Oi" Naruto knew Shin was getting agitated by Sei's presence, but he could not let anything physical happen

Sei looked at Shin with an unreadable face for a few moments before he turned forward and started moving

Shin was getting angry at the lack of response, but then he saw Sei stop in his tracks as he spoke "Shin,.. the reason I did not stomp an uprising was because I did not have the power to do so, it's as simple as that."

Shin was surprised and confused by what he was saying _'He did not have the power to do so? He's the freaking king! This guy is not making sense'_

Sei continued without much hesitation "My grandfather sat on the throne for a mere three months and died. After him was my father, my father held the throne for three years and died…thanks to that last year I was given the throne"

Shin was just flabbergasted and for the first time it hit him "B-but you are just a kid!"

Sei nodded at Shin "of course, a child could not govern a country, I have been just a show piece on the throne. The imperial court had turned into nothing more then a battlefield for power within officials"

Sei briefly glanced at Naruto to gauge his reaction "Within that fight, there was one who stood out. The man who worked his way up from a mere merchant to prime minister Ryo Fui, the man who became my patron to gain more authority and power" Sei was surprised by the lack of reaction on Naruto's face, he more than anyone else knew about the bitter history between the two men

Sei looked back at Shin as he spoke "And then there was another of nearly equal power Prime minister Ketsu Shi"

Sei looked ahead in remembrance as he spoke "The government was basically split into two factions, and day after day, night after night, there was bloodshed" Sei remembered how frequent the reports of finding dead bodies of officials had become as the war between the two factions intensified

"I always found ministers and their bullshit to be pretty stupid" Naruto made an off-hand comment

Shin agreed with Naruto on that, the discussion would have continued, had they not heard footsteps

All three of them tensed, waiting for the person who walking towards them…what came out was not something within their expectation

"what the fuck is that?" Sei knew that such words were beneath him but he could not help himself, he had never seen anything like it

"That is a dumbass that does know how to follow simple instructions" It was Naruto who said those words with anger evident in his voice

Shin could not believe that Naruto was addressing that thing like some human because it certainly did not look like a human, it looked like a giant bird that had large feet…human feet, hey wait a minute

Shin was finally catching up to what was going on but his thoughts were interrupted..by the cries of that thing

"Wah!" The thing was crying as it ran towards Naruto

"Aniki" Shin was more than just dumbfounded when he saw the thing talk as it stopped right in front of naruto

"Aniki, I thought you died! The whole thing is crazy, I was running-" before it could continue, Naruto interrupted

"Were you followed?" Alarming bells rang in the heads of both Shin and Sei as they looked at the the strange thing

"…Maybe, I don't know" the thing was looking everywhere but straight at Naruto

Naruto groaned "You idiot, King, Shin you can talk about this later, we need to pick up speed "

Shin voiced his thoughts as they began to run "Once we've gotten away from all the guys above us, and there is no one in our way, I'll take care things with you" Shin said with a clear sharp edge in his voice

Sei narrowed his eyes at Shin before looking at Naruto "let's move"

 _ **XX**_

 _ **XXX SOME TIME LATER**_

 _ **XX**_

"Looks like the Sun is rising" Said Naruto as he stepped out of the secret passage to be greeted by the sight of a dense forest.

Following him was Shin, who was still having a hard time believing that it was a human child behind what was now revealed to be a straw made poncho.

The child, which was now revealed to be named Ten spoke "Man, I though I would never see the light of another day, I'm so grateful"

"Which would not be the case if you did what I told you to do" Naruto grouched and Ten did not like it

"I was not going to be a servant to that pervy granny alright! She was as shady as it gets, she would get her breasts out for no reason while talking about how they saved her after her husband's death"

"But she was providing a roof over your head and food on your plate and in return wanted you to clean her house and cook for her and all the other house chores, are you saying that the kind of life you were living before was better than the one that granny had to offer?" Naruto asked rhetorically, already knowing the answer

Ten could not answer that question, nor did she have to because Sei spoke first "We should not be wasting our time, Naruto-san"

Ten looked shocked for a second before she pointed her little finger at the blond "Wait a minute, did this guy call you by your name, you did not tell me your name even though we have know each other for an entire year"

Naruto stared at Ten for a few more seconds before he looked at the King of Qin "You are right King, but you would have to move alone from here on out"

Sei was shocked by those words, but it was Shin, who voiced what he was thinking "What? Why?"

Naruto was picking his ear while mumbling "So loud" before responding

"I can't have Ten be involved with this mess, I need to make sure that it does not happen to be the case, not to mention…"

Naruto looked away in the sky as he spoke, "I have a good idea of who you are going to meet should you reach your next destination, and I also have a good idea about what will happen, should you succeed in reclaiming the throne…"

Naruto looked right in his eyes as he spoke once again".. I left that world a long time ago… and I did it for a reason, I'm just not cut out for that world my king, I'm not going to go back to that world."

Naruto took Ten's hand as he spoke, "I wish you luck in your quest my King"

Sei looked at the retreating for of Naruto and a protesting Ten and he felt the need to say what he said next "That's bullshit and you know it Naruto-San" Sei knew that these kinds of words were not befitting of royalty, but he felt the need to say it like he felt about it

Naruto stooped and looked back at Sei with an unreadable expression "Hoh?"

Sei looked down as he spoke, "I don't know the full details, but I do have an idea about what had happened to you, I also have a good idea about your.. _rivalry_ with Prime minister Ryo.."

Shin had no idea about who this Ryo character was, but he really wanted to see the guy who made the always laid back blond tense up.

Sei looked back up, staring at the blond as he spoke"..and on some level, even thought I could not do anything, I still feel responsible for what happened.."

"..But I can't accept these statements that you are making, Your talents have been acknowledged by the everyone of ' **Qin's Six Great Generals'** , and yet you say that you are not made for this? I understand that what happened hurt y-" Sei had suddenly stopped speaking and Shin could not blame him, he would not fare any better under the cold yet intense glare that Naruto was directing at Sei

Naruto eventually did dial back on the intensity, but he did not drop his glare as he spoke "… It would seem that even after sitting on the throne for almost a year you still have not shed your naivety about the nature of the world that you live in, my king, forgive me for saying this but I must say, I am disappointed"

Ten could not believe it _'I-I can't believe it, Aniki has never been this cold to anyone, not even to the scums of Kokuhi village'_ Ten thought in worry

Naruto was not done yet "If you are serious about being a king, then it would be wise to acknowledge this game for what it is, instead of what your preconceived notions would have you believe, the battlefield never stops at the field on which we battle, nor do we stop trying to kill our opponents when we stop crossing swords "

"Would you stop talking like a third rate teacher already" Sei was surprised that he actually found his voice, but now that he had, he would make sure to use it

There was surprise evident in Naruto's eyes, within last day there was another child that did not get overwhelmed by his presence

"I'm not just a child Naruto-san, I'm the king of the state of Qin, who wants to be the king of all of China"

' _Is this guy crazy?_ ' Ten thought, it was just ludicrous

"I don't know the details, nor do I want to, I doubt it would help me in my current situation, but your strength will, so I will make you an offer"

Naruto was amused more then anything "I doubt you can offer me anything that would make me follow a man with a dream as ridiculous as yours"

Sei was having a hard time coming up with anything but he tried "Should you help me in reclaiming my throne, then I will make sure that you will no longer have to concern yourself with Ten's safety or future"

' _What the? Is this guy stupid'_ Shin thought to himself, instead of offering money or power or even women, he was offering this?

Naruto looked like he was actually contemplating his offer before he said "While I will never be able to provide what you would be able, that still does not justify all the hassle that I would have to go through"

Sei grimaced for a few seconds, before he schooled his expression as he began to negotiate "If it does not suffice, then how about this then, should you help me then not only will I take care of Ten, but I will also make sure that you are to be left alone if you decide to once again vanish after my quest to reclaim my throne is complete"

Naruto looked at Sei for a few moments before he spoke,"We both know that you don't really have the power to do that."

Sei did not waver a bit, "That is not something you need to concern yourself with, that is my problem and I will deal with it accordingly"

Naruto looked at Sei for a few moments before he shook his head "I have evaded the state for more then a decade now, and without any problems I might add, while it would be nice if the state stopped trying to hunt me, I still don't think it is worth getting involved in your quest, my king"

Sei was gritting his teeth now _, 'Naruto-san, you are being difficult'_

Naruto started to turn around "It was nice meeting you once again, my king"

"What would it take for you to decide to help me?"

"What?" Naruto was more than just a little surprised at the tenacity of the young king

"It is a simple question, Naruto-san, what would it take to convince you to help me"

Naruto was about to reply before he paused, 'What _do I really want_?' Naruto realized that it was a question he had not bothered to ask himself for more than a decade

' _Aniki must be something if the king is going out of his way to get him'_ Ten could not imagine a king going this far for just one person

Shin was having similar thoughts ' _Either Naruto-bro is really something or this guy, who is supposed to be my king, is just a freakikn idiot!..actually now that I think about it, the second explanation makes more sense then what is happening right now'_

Naruto wanted to believe that there was nothing that the King had that he wanted… but that would be lying to himself, something that Naruto has never done

' _I can't believe that I am actually scared of his response to what I'm about to ask for, not because he will refuse.. Rather, he might just agree and that scares me'_ Naruto thought to himself, preparing to answer Sei's question

Sei, Shin and Ten were waiting for his answer, it certainly was not something they expected

Naruto took a deep breath before asking "… a meeting"

Shin and Ten were more than a little confused by his answer ' _A meeting?'_

Sei voiced the confusion that he shared with Shin and Ten "A meeting?" what did that even mean

Naruto nodded slowly, "A meeting… with _her_."

Sei was still confused by what he was saying, it took a few moments before it hit him

Sei let out a gasp, but he was not allowed to respond as Naruto raised a hand to stop him "I know what I'm asking for is probably beyond your capabilities, but know this my King, that is the only thing that you _might_ be able to give me, that I actually want. "

Sei did not stop looking at Naruto with widened eyes as he thought to himself ' _I don't believe you are quite right Naruto-san, what you are asking for is indeed very hard,it might really be beyond my capabilities, but I do want to believe that I can manage something, what has me baffled is why would you want such a thing'_

Sei knew that he had to word his thoughts carefully "Don't you think that what you are asking for is a little more than unreasonable, not to mention.. _Counterproductive.._ for both of us"

Naruto chuckled, finding some humor in Sei's choice of words " _'Counterproducive'_ you are downplaying the weight of what I'm asking for, it might just be downright destructive really, and for both of us, my king."

The humor left Naruto's face as he spoke his next words "But I did not ask for this with my well being in my mind, nor did I ask for this with your ambitions in mind, the chances of this ending badly for me in some way,shape or form are rather high, and I am aware of that.." Naruto paused to let his words sink in

The last statement confused everyone present whose name was not Naruto, but it was something he expected.

"..But it is what I'm asking for" Naruto said with finality in his voice

Sei was finally starting to understand something _'Naruto-san did not ask for this just because he wants this, he is testing my resolve..and his own as well'_ Sei was aware of the fact that even if he accepted Naruto's demand, he could still refuse and Sei honestly could not blame him

' _But deep down, you want this don't you Naruto-san '_ Sei thought to himself, making up his mind

"I still believe that what you are asking for is unreasonable, but still.. I accept"

Naruto did not show it, but he was a little shook when the King of Qin accepted his demand, the thought of backing out did occur to him, something that the King might have picked on

Sei was getting agitated by Naruto's lack of response, but he did not have to wait for long "…You have got yourself a deal, my king. "

Sei was surprised that Naruto had accepted so easily, but he was also relieved that he had finally accepted to help him

Naruto moved his neck around as he spoke "You and Shou Bun Kun must have decided upon a meeting point, should things turn out the way they have right?" Naruto asked

Sei nodded "Beyond the forest, we have a rendezvous point set up."

Before Naruto could respond, it was Shin, who asked the next question "We are supposed to meet Shou Bun Kun and his unit there, right?"

Sei nodded, to which Shin asked another question "Well, that guy did not show up at Kokuhi village either, so what makes you think he is still alive, maybe he and his unit are all dead by now"

Sei gritted his teeth, it was not something that he wanted to think about, but it was a possibility "We just have to pray that it is not the case."

Shin scoffed "Pray huh? Well, let me tell you I don't want to depend on such things, no matter how you look at it, you will have to go back to the palace, and that place is guarded by the imperial army while it is just three of us"

Something about that last statement caught Naruto by surprise "Three? You are coming with us, Shin?"

Shin nodded in positive "Yeah, I am going to come with you too."

Shin turned to Sei to address him "Don't get me wrong here. It's not like I've forgotten about Hyou. And there's no way in hell I'm going to bow the knee to you, _my king_ " the sarcasm in Shin's last statement was so thick that you could cut it with a knife

Shin's eyes were full of intensity as he spoke his next words "But Naruto-bro made me realize that Hyou's dream lives with me as well and for the sake of my dream and Hyou's dream, I'm going to make full use of you."

Sei replied easily "Don't make the mistake of thinking that I owe you something, you are just a sword to me, if you break during the process then I will throw you out"

Shin gritted his teeth, "I wont have it any other way, ya' bastard"

Naruto interrupted before things could get anymore heated "Oi Shin, cut it out, my king, you know the way right, then lead the way"

Sei nodded and the group of four moved with the intentions of reaching their destination as fast as possible

 **XXXXXXX**

 **KOKUHI VILLAGE**

There were multiple soldiers with fire torches coming out of the cave that had been used by Naruto and his group not too long ago, they did not have good news to share with their commander who was seated on his horse, patiently waiting

One soldier sat on his one knee, his left hand holding his right fist as he spoke "There are a lot more exits within this cave then he originally thought, commander"

The Commander did not let his annoyance show on his face, he knew he had to give orders quickly "Then use the whole army"

The soldier nodded "Yes sir!"

The commander watched the soldier get up and leave, The commander thought to himself _'I guess its time to move out that Muta guy.'_

The commander motioned for his subordinate "Call that Muta guy from Nanetsu here!"

The Man nodded "Yes sir!" and left to do what was asked of him, leaving the commander with his own thoughts

' _We were lucky that we managed to get information from that 'Vicious Scarlet' guy considering his condition, but still… if he's not hallucinating and his description of the man that took him down is correct… bah, who am I trying to fool, he gave me a name too.'_ the commander thought in anger and frustration

The commander could not ponder any longer as his subordinate had returned with a man who wore a straw made poncho, he had a light mustache and multiple paint markings on his face making it clear that he was not of native land, rather he was part of some mountain tribe, this man was Muta.

Muta came up to commander eagerly "Master, Muta can track them. Muta already has their scent. It's only two kids and one man that are out there. Muta's legs are trained for this, Muta will get them before you know it, master."

The commander nodded "I know, but you need to be careful, the man accompanying Ei Sei is not someone you should take lightly"

Muta was a little put off by the commander's lack of confidence in his abilities, but he did not let it bother him too much "Don't worry master, with one shot of Muta's blow pipe, Muta'll kill them all!"

Muta then proceeded to pull out one of his most favorite things, his hatchet "And then I will use this to cleave their heads and bring them to you, hoh, hoh, hoh"

The commander watched the tribal man leave for his mission still giggling "What a creepy guy." The commander said to himself, _'But you really need to be careful , Muta. That man has taken down men far stronger than you'_ the commander thought

The commander could not help but ponder 'I wonder how will Ketsu-sama react to the news of that man's appearance'

 **XXXXXXXX**

 _ **ROYAL PALACE OF QIN**_

The various officials within the royal palace were watching nervously as the man in front of them was loosing his mind

"DAMN THAT SHOU BUN KUN! I knew that man was up to something, but for him to have planned this far!? I should have killed him way before any of this was to take place" The second most influential man in all of Qin shouted angrily

This man was the second Prime Minister, Ketsu Shi. He was an obese man with multiple warts on his face, the fat man had multiple chins and big lips that were twisted in anger at the news he was receiving

' _Damn it, now I will have to face that annoying brat Kyou and listen to his blabber. '_ Ketsu thought to himself angrily

Ketsu knew that this was too good an opportunity for him to waste. Ryo Fui and his faction were out on expendition, so the only person who would and could protect the king was Shou Bun Kun and his personal army, he had planned to deal with him and his army and take the King's head in the process, but Not only did that man slipped past the defense line that he had set up, he had also replaced the king with a body double, it was clear to him that he was outplayed

Ketsu growled in anger "I will underestimate him no longer, find Shou Bun Kun along with the king, we must not let those two meet, find them and bring me their heads!" before the other officials and soldiers could voice their agreement, a deep voice filled with amusement spoke

"There's no need for any of that."

Everyone turned to look at the owner of the voice and gasped

Ketsu was the first to regain his voice "Where on earth have you been, at such an important time?"

"KO,KO,KO 'Where?' I was out playing with the much talked about Shou Bun Kun, so calm down, I made him suffer some, and then I killed him"

 **XXXXXXXX**

 **A.n :- a little short, and with no action but the first arc is more plot driven, just like I said before rate and review, if you have any ideas then do share and if you have any questions then ask them and if I think I won't be revealing to much then I will answer them**


	3. The Thousand Man Slayer

_**Disclaimer : I don't own Kingdom or Naruto**_

 _Previously.._

 _Ketsu growled in anger "I will underestimate him no longer, find Shou Bun Kun along with the king, we must not let those two meet, find them and bring me their heads!" before the other officials and soldiers could voice their agreement, a deep voice filled with amusement spoke_

" _There's no need for any of that."_

 _Everyone turned to look at the owner of the voice and gasped_

 _Ketsu was the first to regain his voice "Where on earth have you been, at such an important time?"_

" _KOKOKO 'Where'I was out playing with the much talked about Shou Bun Kun, so calm down, I made him suffer some, and then i killed him"_

 _Present time…_

 _ **ROYAL PALACE OF QIN**_

Ketsu Shi was standing in the balcony, looking down, his thoughts were interrupted by the entry of a man of average build with short shaved hair, the man was dressed in the attire of a court official, and this man was the State officer of Ketsu Shi's army, **Shi Shi.**

Shi Shi held his fist in a show of respect as he brought the bad news to Ketsu "The king has managed to survive, and slipped through our defenses"

"Dammit, he's resourceful" Shi Shi was surprised by the lack of anger and frustration on Ketsu's part, but he did not have to wait long to know why

"Well, whatever. The real problem, Shou Bun Kun is dead. That man was a real threat to me. Because of him I had nearly lost everything." Ketsu said, angry just by the thought of it

Shi Shi was more than a little surprised at that piece of news and he voiced it "He was a man who was well known on the battlefield, we should have been wary of him… so who on earth was the one who got him?"

Ketsu pointed down the balcony "That man."

Shi Shi looked and let out a gasp, down there was a huge and muscular man, He had long dark hair, flowing on his back, a three pronged goatee and remarkably large lips. He had tribal tattoos on his forearms and numerous scars, he wore a blue set of armor befitting for a general under a crimson cape. He also had a set of unique neck and shoulder guards on his armor, Shi Shi immediately recognized him "T-That's **General Ouki** "

Ketsu nodded "That Ouki, he knew we were going to mess things up, so he had his men wait outside for an ambush"

Something about all of it was not feeling right to Shi Shi "He had absolutely no interest in the fights up until now, why would he bother now of all times?"

Ketsu replied easily "Land, Shou Bun Kun's land to be precise"

Before Shi Shi could make a comment about the suspiciousness of Ouki's actions to his master, Ketsu spoke "Nevertheless, you have failed in your task, Shi Shi. I hope you are not going to catch a habit of doing it, your vicious scarlet guy was beaten with bare hands I'm hearing"

Shi Shi held his fist and bowed his head as he spoke "Don't worry Ketsu-sama, I am hearing that the man who protected the king is rather skilled, thus I have sent Muta after them"

Ketsu nodded "That guy, huh… I almost feel sorry for the King."

 _ **With Ouki**_

Ouki was patting his horse lightly "Come **Ou,** it is time to go home" the horse blowed in agreement but before Ouki could mount his horse, another man came along and bowed down while holding his fist as a respectful gesture

"Stand at ease" Ouki ordered and the man did as he was told, he was a strong and well-built man. He had long, brown, flowing hair and a thin mustache, which had swirl patterns on each side. His eyes were wide open and his face was in blank vendetta smile state, this man was the most trusted man of Ouki, his name was **Tou**

"What is it,Tou? I'm getting quite late you know"Ouki asked

"Sir, it would appear that the king has escaped, the assassin that was sent after him was beaten with bare hands" Tou informed

Ouki narrowed his eyes, never losing his smile for once "It would appear that this is important or you would not have bothered to stop me for this trivial information would you, Tou?" Ouki made it clear with his voice and his words that Tou should have something of worth to say next and it better be important or Tou would be the one to suffer the most in their next drill

Tou nodded "The assassin was on the brink of death, but was able to survive, and give the description of the man who beat him," Ouki saw the smile on his subordinate turn into a smirk

"According to him, it was a man with blond hair and blue eyes, he also had whisker like marks on his face"

Despite not losing its sharpness, Ouki's eyes did widen, as did his smile, he inquired"Have the officials been made aware of this, Tou?"

Tou nodded "Yes, my lord, although they don't seem to react much at all by the mention of his name. my guess is that they are not entirely aware of who he is."

Ouki nodded to that "That is probably the case, Ryo Fui had a meteoric rise, from a mere merchant to a Prime minister, and at the same time, Naruto himself did not just leave the business of warfare all those years ago, he just disappeared, as if he never existed, I was able to follow his movements for a brief time, when he pulled that ' **Stunt'** all those years ago in the land of **Zhao** , but I lost his trail once again. Add to that, the fact that he deliberately never rose through the ranks like he could have and you have enough reasons for an official to not bother to know his name"

Ouki looked at the sky as he spoke again "Nfufufu, How interesting. To think I would have a chance to meet that 'pretty boy' again"

Ouki looked at Tou as he spoke "Be vigilant about the king's movements Tou, now I have even more reasons to be on Ketsu's side"

Tou nodded as he watched his lord mount his horse and leave for his castle

For the first time in many years Ouki was excited _'it is nice that you have decided to 'grace' us with your presence, but if you truly intend to help the king reclaim his throne, then you better live up to your moniker of_ _ **'The Thousand Man Slayer'**_ _or I will send you into a world of pain for coming back in this world with a half-hearted resolve,_ _Nfufufu!'_

 **XXXXXXXX**

 _ **TWO DAY LATER**_

 _ **With Naruto and group**_

Shin woke up rather abruptly from the sensation of being jerked, he could not register what was going on at first, but after a few moments he realized that he was in the air and that he was moving, he snapped his head in the air and was greeted with the sight of the back of the head of Naruto

Naruto felt some movement on his back and stopped in his tracks "You awake eh, Shin."

Shin asked the first that came to his mind "I was asleep?"

A panting voice came from behind him "Asleep? More like you were completely out of it."

Shin looked back to see Ten on the ground, panting heavily "What do you mean, out of it?"

Ten pointed a finger at Shin angrily "You lost consciousness and aniki has been giving you a poggy-back ever since, you have been out of it for a whole night and half a day"

Before Ten could rail on Shin some more, Naruto interrupted "Leave it Ten, the guy ran for four hours, got his ass kicked by me and then fought that assassin and not get killed,"

Naruto and Ten ignored Shin's indignant 'hey' as Ten turned her attention and her anger towards Naruto "Well I did the same, except the fighting part, I don't remember getting a piggy-back"

Naruto looked at Ten sternly "That IS on you"

Ten winced at that, but did not lose her bite "You are still on about that? What about the fact that you made us run even in the dark of the night in the middle of a forest" Ten spread her hands wide to demonstrate her point about the forest

Naruto did not lose his stern expression as he responded "That is also your fault, it's a good thing that cave has multiple exits or the whole army would be on our asses, I did not want to take any chances, so we ran. Again, not my fault that you were not sure if you were followed."

Naruto put down Shin off his back as he heard Sei call out his name, he looked ahead to see that the King was already several steps ahead

Shin and Ten followed Naruto as he approached Sei "What is it?"

Sei was still looking at a space between two large rocks as he spoke "We are close"

The space between the two rocks turned out to be a passage. Naruto, Shin and Ten followed Sei as he led them, within ten minutes they reached their destination

Ten was the first to react "Sweet! We made it."

 _ **TWO HOURS LATER**_

Shin was resting on a mattress as he was looking at the Sword that Hyou had given him ' _Naruto-bro said that even some random nobles can't get this Sword..Hyou'_ BeforeShin could think anymore, Ten had called for him, not in the mood to laze around any longer Shin got up and went outside to be greeted by the sight of food…lots of food

Ten who was sitting next to Sei, said excitedly "Dinner is ready."

 _ **TWO MINUTES LATER**_

"THIFF *MMMM!* IF *ARGMMMM!* GOOFF! *NOM! NOM! NOM!*"

Ten had a hard time comprehending how anyone could stuff their mouth as much as Shin was doing, and still be able to talk, she was on the verge of losing it, and she did when Shin asked his question

"Hey! How come you guys are not eating anything?" Shin asked, genuinely puzzled by their behavior, the food was good

Ten took a deep breath, before she exploded "BECAUSE EATING NEXT TO A PIG MAKES ME LOOSE MY APPETITE"

Sei nodded calmly while drinking water "Exactly"

Shin knew this conversation would lead to him being some hood-rat, so he changed the topic "Hey! Where is Naruto-bro?"

Ten would have exploded again at Shin for trying to change the topic, but she was curious herself "You know, I don't know either"

Sei was the one to answer their questions "Naruto-san said that he was going to scout the area around"

Ten was a little angry at that "Man, aniki never told me his name, but the moment some royalty drops by, he gives it up, like it's not even fair."

Shin did not know what was the deal with Ten "What are you on about? Naruto-bro gave me his name the first time he met"

Ten was boderline livid now "WHAT! I take care of him for a whole year, and he does not even tell me his name, but he gives it up to some random hood rat! "

Now it was Shin who got angry "Will you stop with the whole 'Hood rat' thing, and it's not like he just gave it away, he was going on about how since I made him use a sword-" Shin was not allowed to complete his sentence as both Sei and Ten both spoke in unison

"You made him use a sword?" Ten and Sei looked at each other in surprise, but they ignored the strange coincidence and focused their attention back on Shin

Shin was getting a little uncomfortable from their stare "Well, yeah..That and also the fa-" Shin could not complete his sentence as he was interrupted by Ten

"There is no way you could have made him use a punch, much less a sword! I have seen him put grown men down with just a slap across their face, they would literally fall down by taking one of those" Ten would shudder at just the prospect of taking one of those, Ten was not sure if there was anyone who could take one of those

Shin did not like the sound of that "What? You are just making it up aren't you?" _'..Come to think of it, he really did not strike me until he did, for most of our fight, he just pushed be back_ _ **Hard**_ _… man those hurt'_

Ten did not back down "I'm not making up anything, Aniki was not around much, but he basically said to the scums of the Kokuhi village that they are free to do anything if they can make him draw his sword. To this day I have not seen anyone last for more than ten seconds, he would just slap them and that would be the end of that"

Sei was next to show his skepticism "You could not even beat that assassin, while Naruto-san did it with his bare hands, and you want me to believe that you made him draw his sword"

Now Shin was getting pissed "Okay, first off I could have beaten that guy just fine, if Naruto-bro had not convinced me to leave it to him, then that guy would not have been alive"

Sei would have argued more, but Ten beat him to it "You must have hit your head or something, you should see a doctor"

Now Shin was really pissed "WHY YOUUU!"

 **THIRTY MINUTES LATER**

Naruto was alarmed at the loud sounds of commotion from within the summer house, when he arrived at the source of the commotion, he was not amused, to say the least "…What the fuck are you brats doing?"

In front of Naruto was a dishelved room, in it were Shin, Sei and Ten, Sei was sitting like a royalty, calmly drinking his water, while Shin and Ten were holding each others cheek, trying to rip them off from the looks of it

Sei was the first to reply "Trying to kill each other"

Shin and Ten, both got off of each other's grip as Naruto addressed them "Seriously? That is how you are going to behave? When we have a very real chance of encountering another assassin going after our heads?"

Shin was the first to respond "Like hell, I will just cut them down" Shin boasted

Ten grouched "Yeah, like you did aniki right?"

Before Shin could respond back, Naruto whistled "Oi, Ten"

Ten looked at Naruto as he was holding some sort of strange pipe "Catch!" Naruto threw it towards Ten, who caught it barely

Ten could not even examine the strange thing as Naruto was not done speaking as he approached them, "Take these," he handed them what looked like a small jute made pouch

Ten was looking at the strange thing Naruto had brought while Shin asked the questions that everybody was thinking "What are these things?"

Naruto pointed at the pipe "That is a Blowpipe, it is a weapon used by assassins of mountains" Naruto then pointed at the pouch "That contains needles, and they are coated in tranquilizers powerful enough to knock someone out the moment it makes contact with skin apparently"

Sei already had an idea regarding the answer to his question "How did you get it"

Naruto answered his question easily "He was an assassin from the mountains"

Shin asked eagerly "What happened?"

Naruto looked up "Wellllll"

 _ **FLASHBACK**_

"Man, I knew I should have refused" Naruto said, clearly irritated by his current position

He was sitting atop a tree branch, looking around for any suspicious movement, and he caught one _'good grief'_

Muta had been on his feet, running as fast as he could while not losing the track of his enemies; _'There is one more kid, and all of them are either running really fast, or they ran the whole night'_

Muta needed to stop to catch his breath, he had been running for four hours straight and he needed a couple of minutes to rest, unfortunately, these two minutes were going to be his last

Muta was about to take out his water pouch to drink, when he saw a man with golden hair come in the view

"You an assassin? friend?" Muta was more than a little surprised at such a casual address, he was getting angry at the actions of the blond that he considered disrespectful

"You are underestimating Muta, aren't you?" Muta said angrily as he took out his trusted blowpipe

Naruto looked at his choice of weapon and nodded "Yep, can't play around with you"

Muta saw the man take a position, as if he was about to sprint but then he looked like he tripped, because he was falling…until he was not and was right in his face

Muta could not react as the man grabbed the top and the bottom of his head and turned his world upside down…rather he had turned his head upside down

' _W-wha-'_ Muta might not have the time to understand what happened to him, but he still understood two things, one was that this was the end for him, and the second was that he understood what made Naruto so terrifying

' _T-there was n-no presence in h-his att-ack at all '_

Muta took his final breath with his last thought being _'What a terrifying man'_

Naruto looked at the now dead man and nodded to himself "Yep, time to look at what we have here"

 _ **Flashback end**_

Naruto nodded "Yep, that's that"

Everyone was looking at Naruto, bewildered by his casual response

Ten was the first to voice their collective opinions "What do you mean that's that!? You can't just say all that so casually, we are talking about killing an assassin here, not discussing whether"

Naruto looked at her strangely before shrugging "I don't know what you are going on about, but I'm tired and need my rest"

Ten perked up at that "Well, I made dinner" Shin was surprised at how easily Ten forgot about everything Naruto said the moment the opportunity of serving food presented itself

There was a huge smile on Naruto's face as well "Wow, there's food here? That's awesome"

Ten was about to serve Naruto but Shin had a question he needed an answer to "Wait, how is food in here?, as well as these mattresses for that matter"

Naruto sat down, ready to dig in as he answered, "Well, maybe Shou Bun Kun made preparations before the shit went down" Naruto would have been more aware of the kind of language he was using around kids, but he knew these kids and what they had seen in their life despite being so young

Ten on in the middle of serving when it hit her "Wait, this place is in top condition, but.."

Ten looked directly looking at Sei now "You said that this place was the summer house of the king from four hundred years ago, and that it is also his burial ground, and that no one even remembers that it exists, if that is the case then why is this place in such a good condition"

Sei took a deep breath and then let out a sign "Qin's king from four hundred years ago, **Mu Gong,** was one of the rare benevolent lords"

Shin and ten were confused by Sei's choice of words "Rare benevolent lords?" Both Shin and Ten said in unison

Sei nodded and continued to speak "He was a man that loved people from the bottom of his heart. Even if that person happened to be a slave from an enemy country."

Shin was more than a little shocked at hearing that, he was astonished, that kind of behavior was not something he associated with a noble, let alone a king at that "Even a slave from another country?"

Sei nodded "There's also the story of when Mu Gong's war horse was killed and eaten by some savages that lived in the mountains"

Ten cringed at that part of the story "Woah, that's messed up!" Naruto did not feel like mentioning that it was not right to talk about your ancestors in a bad light, because he was enjoying his meal too much to bother doing so

Shin was very interested in the story now "So what happened? Did he wipe them all out?"

Sei shook his head in a negative "No, he gave them liquor that would taste good with horse meat"

Shin was not just puzzled, he was stumped "WHAT THE HELL? What kind of man does that"

Sei answered his question easily "That was the kind of man he was. He loved people, whether it be his citizens or savages from foreign land"

Sei stopped looking at Shin as he spoke "But, his actions would bring great blessing to Qin, for he would open the hearts of Mountain dwellers"

"Mountain dwellers huh" Naruto said while looking at the table, everyone thought that he would add to the conversation, but he didn't

Once realizing that Naruto was not going to say anything, Sei continued "The world of the mountain dwellers was one the other citizens were never to come in contact with . In China, the Qin lies farthest west of all the nations. But even farther west lies the expansive world of the mountain dwellers, the king of the mountain dwellers and Mu Gong met face to face, shaking hands…"

Sei looked straight in the eyes of Shin as he completed his sentence "When the fighting was really bad in china, and the death of a village of a more than ten thousand were wiped out, he went to the west and opened up the way to villages of hundreds of thousands"

Astonishment was visible on Shin's face "Wow"

Ten did not let the beautiful story stop her from asking her question forcefully "But what about now then? I've never heard anything good about the relationship between Qin and us, the mountain dwellers!"

Sei nodded easily "Like I said, Mu Gong was a rare man, in the end, he was the only one who cared about mountain dwellers, once Mu Gong passed away, Qin cut all the ties way with the mountain dwellers, and they returned to their own world"

Sei stood up and gestured around "This was a place for the King of mountain dwellers and Mu Gong to discuss important matters, only a few select nobles knew about it, but once the ties were cut, most have forgotten about this place"

Ten still did not feel satisfied with the answer "But still have not told us about who cleans this place"

Sei answered easily "The Mountain dwellers"

"What!?" Neither Shin nor Ten could believe it, and they didn't shy away from voicing their disbelief, they also could believe that Naruto was still more focused on his food, how could anyone be so unresponsive to such a moving story

Sei nodded "Even after four hundred long years, they still have not forgotten about Mu Gong, they consider this holy land, and come here to make sure that this place stays in good condition, without anyone knowing"

Ten was moved by the story; she was on the verge of tears when Naruto spoke

"King Mu Gong must have really left an impression, for the mountain dwellers to still follow this tradition is surprising"

Sei nodded "Yes, when we think of mountain dwellers, we think of savages-" Ten's indignant _'Hey'_ was ignored "But they seem to have the lot of respect for tradition in general"

Naruto shook his head "I was not referring to that, my king. You are probably not aware of everything that has been happening in that part of the world, just like the rest of China, which is not surprising considering how much cut off that part of the world is"

Sei was confused but intrigued by Naruto's statement "What do you mean, Naruto-san"

Naruto drank till his glass was empty before he spoke "In the last fourteen years, I have practically travelled the whole of China, which also includes the Mountains, That place has seen the emergence of a lot of ambitious people in the last decade and a half"

Shin leaned in, now even he was interested in what Naruto was saying "What do you mean, Naruto-bro"

Naruto looked at his audience and was little surprised at how interested they seemed "I more or less had decided to settle down in the last three years, but even so m-"

"What do you mean! You were gone half the time" Ten said indignantly, Ten then looked around and received deadpan looks from Naruto and Sei while Shin was openly wearing a face that said 'Shut it', Ten blushed in embarrassment

Naruto looked at Ten with his eyebrow raised, as if he was asking if it was it was over, Ten nodded readily, wanting the embarrassing moment to end "…like I was saying, Mountains were not the place that I frequented, it has been practically a decade since I was there, but still… "

Naruto looked directly at Sei as he spoke "Even though if we are talking in conventional terms, then technically it's not true, you could say that there has been practically a civil war going on within the mountains"

It took a few moments for Sei to understand the meaning behind Naruto's words, and he gasped at that "You mean.."

Naruto nodded, he looked around and saw the the confused looks on the faces of Shin and Ten "Historically, for the most part, the mountain society, if you can even call it that, has been an anarchic society, and I'm using the term 'society' very losely, to say the least"

Naruto looked up at the roof, a contemplative look on his face "For the most part, Two tribes would go to war, one would completely wipe out the other, that was how the whole of mountain tribes operated"

Ten had a slanted eyed look on her face "Woah, What savages!" Shin could not hold back this time "This is YOUR people we are talking about"

Naruto shook his head at Shin "'Your' is too broad a word as far as Mountain dwellers are concerned, there are too many tribes for you to remember, god knows which one Ten belongs to, but really, what I'm trying to get at here, is that the mountain region is too diverse culturally, and that is putting it mildly "

Shin did not get it "Diverse culturally?"

Naruto nodded "You cannot walk fifty kilometers before the dialect changes, double that distance and you will get a completely new language to deal with"

Shin was astonished at that piece of information "Woah! I thought only those southern guys had a different language"

Naruto nodded "While it is true that some parts of China are diverse as well, any of it pales in comparison to the mountains, each tribe has its own culture, most have their own language as well, and each and every one of them are proud of their culture to the point that they are willing to kill for it"

Ten was listening intently and suddenly asked "Wait a minute, you said they are anarchic, and that there are so many tribes that you cannot count them, and then you said that there is a civil war going on? How does that work?" Ten really could not understand, last she checked, there was no single state in the mountains big enough for there to be a civil war, most 'states' were size of a city, if there was no state then how could there be a civil war , _'but then again, I don't even remember being part of a tribe, grandpa brought me out of mountains to protect me, not that it accomplished_ _anything'_

Naruto understood Ten's confusion as he nodded in understanding "You would be right if conventional wisdom is to be believed, from what I have gathered as far as mountain dwellers are concerned, there has not been many honest attempts at bringing some 'Coherence' to the 'state' if you can even call it that"

Sei understood what he meant by 'Bringing coherence', in a way you could say that he wanted to do the same thing by becoming the king of whole of china

Unfortunately Shin did not understand one bit of what Naruto was saying, and he told him as much "I don't get it"

Ten could not understand how Naruto was so calm as he tried to explained it to Shin "Basically, for most of its history, mountain tribes would die rather than serve under the victor tribe, and that is what would happen, they would fight until they die, until now that is"

Shin was looking at Naruto with slanted blank eyes, indicating that he still did not get it, until something clicked in his head "Wait a minute, you are saying that Mountain dwellers would rather die than serve under the victor tribe, but yet, according to you that is exactly what is happening… then does that mean that there is someone powerful enough that the tribes are willing to serve"

Naruto nodded, glad that Shin understood "Not just someone, there are many such individuals who have managed to subjugate multiple tribes and not kill them in the process,"

Shin once again wore a black slanted eyed look as he shook his arms violently "I don't get it at all, then who the hell was the guy that Mu Gong had an alliance with? He was a king wasn't he!"

Naruto sighted, fortunately Sei was the one that took the responsibility to make Shin understand "Shin, our understanding of what 'King' and 'Kingdom' means is different than those who live in the mountains"

Shin had a simple response "Eh?"

Sei sighted at Shin's lack of understanding "Just like Naruto-san said, in the territory of 'Mountain Tribes' there are insurmountable amount of tribes, these tribes form alliances and choose a leader, this leader is who we call 'King of the Mountain tribes'"

Naruto signaled for Ten to fill his glass as he spoke "God knows there are probably multiple 'King of the Mountain tribes' in that whole region, it is a boastful term used to feed their own ego, its usually just one tribe and some unfortunate survivors from the other tribe, mostly the merchants and women.."

Naruto had stopped talking for the purpose of drinking before he continued again "But really, whoever is 'The king of the mountain tribes' with whom King Mu Gong had an alliance with was probably someone powerful, ten thousand citizens by the standards of four hundred years ago is a lot "

Ten had a look that openly said 'What the hell' as Naruto asked for more water "I have met much of these individuals who want to bring all of the tribes under one clout, some of them even stood out, their talent for warfare would be apparent to any soldier worth some salt, one of them in particular, though" there was a smile on the face of Naruto as he remembered that person "heh I would go as far as to say that in terms of fierceness alone that person would be a match for **General Kyou"**

Sei's eyes widened at Naruto's claim _'How is that possible, it is said that of all the members of '_ _ **Qin's Six Great Generals**_ _' Great General Kyou was the most fierce, you mean to tell me that among the primitive population of mountain dwellers there is someone like that'_

"Like I said, apparently for the first time, there has been an emergence of individuals with talent who are ambitious enough , that they are actually trying to create a kingdom in the mountains the way we understand it, most of them want to kill me though"

Sei, Shin and Ten looked at him with deadpan looks as Ten spoke first "Whoh! How could that be? It's not like you have a habit of sticking your nose into trouble" the sarcasm in Ten's statement was so thick that one could cut it with a knife

Naruto looked at them annoyed before drinking from his glass, he finished his glass before he spoke "It's not like I just go looking for trouble, it's hard enough that everyone wants to mess with me because of the way I look, then some fool will raise his hands because they either think they are the hot stuff or I am some weakling that they can beat the crap out of so they can impress the ladies"

Naruto once again raised his glass, asking for more water, at which point Ten lost it "How much water are you going to drink! Enough already" Ten said loudly while shaking her arms animatedly

Naruto took it upon himself to fill his glass as he spoke to Ten dismissively "You should drink a lot of water too, Ten. Not only do you not know if you will get enough of it later, apparently it's good for your skin and stuff, so there is that"

Ten stopped shaking her arms as a look of wonder and astonishment came on her face "Whoah! No wonder you are so pretty!"

Naruto was in the middle of emptying his glass when he heard what Ten said and he spat out all of the water in his mouth and started coughing

Shin and Sei were trying their best to hold back their laughter as Naruto tried to bring his coughing under control

Ten was starting to get what had happened and instead of joining Shin and Sei in their laughter, She felt dread

The laughter within Shin and Sei died once Naruto got his bearing under control, for Naruto was pissed "YOUUU BRATS!"

 _ **XX**_

 _ **XXXX NEXT MORNING**_

 _ **XX**_

Shin woke up abruptly, his sleep had been disturbed by the sounds of commotion outside, Shin rubbed his cheeks due to the pain that he felt from them _'That jerk! It still hurts from all the pulling he did; I thought they would fall off last night'_

Shin went outside and his widened at the sight that greeted him, in front of him was Sei, standing like the royalty that he was, but that was not what had grabbed Shin's attention, what had gripped Shin's attention was the many men that were standing in front of him, particularly the one who was kneeling in front of him who was crying his eyes out, he was an old man with long dark hair and big mustache, he wore the standard Qin army armor, Shin recognized that man for he was the one that had taken Hyou to the royal palace ' _That's Shou Bun Kun!'_ Shin was gritting his teeth in anger now, the memory of Hyou dying in front of him was still fresh in his mind, he would have moved, had something else not caught his attention… namely Naruto, who was crouched on one of the tree branches looking at the scene while rubbing his jaw, as if he was contemplating something, his eyes met with Shin's and he put his finger on his lips, instructing him to keep quit

 _ **XX**_

 _ **XXX TEN MINUTES LATER**_

 _ **XX**_

Shin was more than a little peeved at the moment; his anger was rising the more he listened to Shou Bun Kun's explanation regarding the failure of all his plans, how he was ambushed by some general named Ouki and how he and his few men barely survived, Shin wanted some answers, and he wanted them now

"I don't care about all that bullshit, what the hell happened to Hyou after all that?"

Shou Bun Kun glanced sideways to look back at Shin with an impassive look, his thoughts were interrupted by a soldier

"Lord Shou Bun Kun, who is that boy?" The man who asked the question wore standard armor, he had long dark hair and a long goatee and a mustache, this man was Shou Bun Kun's most loyal soldier, his name is **Heki**

Shou Bun Kun replied stoically "That is Hyou's friend, Shin"

Heki was surprised at that _'That boy is lord Hyou's friend?'_

Heki knelt down while holding his fist in a show of respect "My King, I was with lord Hyou throughout the whole ordeal once we were separated, so I will explain from here but will it be okay to bring that boy over here? I believe he has the right what happened to Hyou and the rest of us, who were surrounded by the enemy"

Sei looked at Heki contemplatively, while he had known Shin for no more then three days, he knew that the subject of Hyou was too close to Shin's heart, and he was prone to say outrageous things when riled up, while he was willing to ignore most of it, he was aware that those who are loyal to him would not "Granted, but we should first, all come inside the summer house first, and then talk"

Heki was pleasantly surprised by how indulgent Sei was being "Yes, my king, you are coming right? Shin"

Shin nodded slowly "..Yeah"

Sei nodded to that "Very well then, Shou Bun Kun, Heki, Shin and Na-…" Sei noticed for the first time that Naruto was not around

Shou Bun Kun noticed king looking around as if looking for someone "Is something the matter, my king"

Sei looked around for a few more seconds before he spotted Ten "Ten, Where is Naruto-san?"

Ten was an early riser, so she had gone to look around, so she was surprised to see so many soldiers at the same place for the first time, she was actually surprised by the sudden address "H-He left without saying much, something about checking his setups"

Sei did not understand what that meant, but he let it slide "Fine, see to it that the soldiers are fed, could you?"

Ten nodded easily "Sure"

Heki and Shin went forward all the while noticing that Shou Bun Kun was looking at Sei with his mouth hung open and his eyes wide, it looked like he was sweating too

"My lord?" Heki was getting concerned, that look was not something he saw on the usually calm and stoic captain, not even when he faced general Ouki

Shou Bun Kun shook his head and regained some of his composure back, he had questions that he needed answers to, but he knew that this was not the time, and from the sounds of it, he would get his answers sooner rather than later

"Nothing! Let's move, my king"

Heki was not convinced, but he nodded regardless

 _ **XX**_

 _ **XXX THIRTY MINUTES**_

 _ **XX**_

Ten was busy feeding everyone _'Everybody is so beat up! It's not even funny'_

Ten was looking around for if anyone needed her when she spotted Naruto near the entrance of summer house "Aniki! Where have you been? Sei has been looking for you"

Naruto shot her an annoyed look "Be a little quite will you"

Ten would have argued, but she could see that her aniki was worried about something "What's wrong?"

Naruto contemplated whether to speak before he decided to do so "I'm second guessing my decision"

Ten did not understand "What do you mean?"

Naruto grimaced "You know, the whole helping the king get back the throne thing"

Ten could understand that "Yeah, anyone would be scared if such a task was on their head, but you don't have to worry, apparently Ryo Fui has an army of Two hundred thousand under him, and they will be returning soon"

' _I highly doubt that'_ Naruto neither had the intention to sour his mood nor haveany intention to steer the conversation, so he didn't, "I'm not scared, and that is not why I am second guessing my decision"

Now Ten was confused "Then what is it?"

Naruto let out a sign "Like I said before, I left that world with the intention of not returning back, and I got myself in this situation impulsively rather than on my own accord"

Ten narrowed her eyes, she was a smart girl that knew how to read between the lines "Aniki, you keep saying that you left that world, what do you mean by that, who are you exactly "

Naruto sighted "Well… lets just say that I have the misfortune of being around people who are either important or end up being important"

 _ **XX**_

 _ **XXX INSIDE THE SUMMER HOUSE, TEN MINUTES EARLIER**_

 _ **XX**_

To say that Shin was proud of being Hyou's best friend was an understatement, to listen to all these proud soldiers talk about Hyou like a hero felt great to Shin, now that he was entrusted with Hyou's dream as well, his ambition to become a Great General had been amplified, but reality was already trying to put cold water on his burning ambition, apparently a slave like him who did not even have a place to live, could not even enlist in the military

Shin did not let it dishearten him a bit "Oi, Sei, once you get your throne back, get me a place to live in a good village, and make it so I don't have to be a slave a'ight"

Shou Bun Kun was already shaking by Shin addressing Sei by his name, but he kept saying outrageous things, but he was more surprised his king's reaction "Fine"

Shin had a wild grin on his face "Alright! Now don't you forget that"

Sei replied back with some bite "I still don't think I owe you anything"

Shin participated in banter "Hey, is that a way to talk to a guy who saves your life"

Sei did not back down "If my memory serves me right, it was not you who beat the assassin, it was Naruto-san who beat him, so there goes that fantasy of yours"

Shou Bun Kun was pleasantly surprised when he watched the king behave like a normal thirteen year old boy, but when he spoke that last statement, he knew he had to get the answers to his questions

"My king, you keep speaking of this Naruto, who is this man…?" Shou Bun Kun had a good idea of who this man was, but he wanted to confirm it

Sei nodded with his usual cool composure "Yes, it is the same man you are thinking about"

Heki saw Shou Bun Kun go through a myriad of emotions in a matter of moments, he went from shocked, to happy, to angry, to stoic "My King, I was with him when he decided to leave it all behind, the resolve with which he had taken that decision did not seem shakable, while it has been a long time since that day, it is still hard for me to believe that much has changed"

Sei nodded coolly "He was not willing; I asked him what it would take for me to get his help, he asked that I take care of the living situation of that child Ten, and that should he decide not to be involved in any manner after this whole ordeal, that the kingdom of Qin, and a meeting…with _her_ "

Shou Bun Kun did not think how these small terms could convince Naruto to come back, until he heard the last statement, and he was visibly angry "That idiot! He's going to get himself and all of us killed"

Heki was confused, he did not have any idea of what these people were talking about "Forgive me for interrupting but.. who is this 'Naruto' person you are talking"

Shin was curious as well, for a while now it seemed that Sei knew Naruto on a personal level, from the reaction of Shou Bun Kun, that really seem to be the case

Shou bun Kun stopped gritting his teeth as he addressed Heki "Figures, nobles and court officials alike did not really like him, combine that with the fact he himself tried to suppress his name during the last years of his service, no wonder you don't know of him"

Shou Bun Kun took a deep breath before he asked a rhetorical question "Tell me Heki, Are you familiar with _'_ _ **The Black Lancer Unit'**_?"

Heki's eyes widened in recognition "Of course sir! It was an independent three hundred man unit that had become famous in all of China at one point"

Shin was more than just curious now "All of China!? Why's that? What was so special about them?"

Heki replied like a teacher would, to a student "Like I said, It was an independent three hundred man unit, which had, on multiple occasions, slain thousand man units down to the last man"

Even Shin knew incredible feats when he heard of them "Woah! Thousand men with just three hundred? Those guys must be strong"

Heki nodded "Yes, apparently they were so strong, that during the era of the warring states it would actually create tensions between all the Great General of Qin over who could use them, if that is true then it is a testament of their strength but.."

Heki looked back at Shou Bun Kun questioningly "But weren't they disbanded because they were getting way over their heads and were not following orders regarding their deployment on a regular basis"

Shou Bun Kun scoffed "That is one way to put it, they simply started picking their battles, and due to their importance they were becoming influential, royal court did not like that, neither the fact that that much influence was being consolidated in the hands of one small unit, unit made entirely of commoners at that"

Heki was shocked at that "What?! Just common folks? How is that even possible"

Shou Bun Kun nodded, his stance was proud "Of course! The policy that Qin adopted, of letting the common villagers enlist in the army and given the opportunity to rake up achievements to climb the ranks was not a well thought out policy, rather it was a whim of **King Shou** , and obviously nobles did not like it, and everyone was expecting that policy to stop being in action once it did not yield good enough results to justify its existence, the reason that policy is still in place to begin with is because of the Black lancer Unit, it is their legacy "

While he was grateful for that, Shin did not like the fact that his curiosity was not being sated "That is all well and good, but what does any of that have anything to do with Naruto-bro"

Shou Bun Kun replied easily "Naruto was the three hundred man commander of the Black lancer Unit"

Both Shin and Heki wore the same look of astonishment same word "What!?"

Shou Bun Kun was annoyed by how loud they were being, but he ignored it in favor of asking another question "Now then Heki, what do you know about ' _ **The Thousand Man Slayer'**_ "

Heki was confused now "wasn't it just a myth, my lord?"

Shin was confused once again "Okay! Now what the hell is this about?"

Shou Bun Kun did not acknowledge Shin in favor of going in his own pace "Arguably the greatest General in the history of Qin's army was **Great General Hakuki** , in terms of all major enemy ranks, from one hundred man commanders to even Great Generals, he has the most number of kills in sheer volume in terms of ranked soldiers, in all the major categoriesexcept **…** thousand man units"

The possibility of Heki's eyes falling out of his eyes were very real right now "I-Imposible! How can that be, so you are telling me that _The Thousand Man Slayer_ is not a myth?"

Shin had a much simpler response "Who the hell is this guy"

Shou Bun Kun decided to answer both of those questions "Even after getting his personal unit disbanded, he did not change his targets, he-" Shou Bun Kun was interrupted by the sounds that came from outside "Aniki! Where have you been? Sei has been looking for you"

Sei recognized immediately what that meant "Looks like he has returned…"

 _ **XX**_

 _ **XXX OUTSIDE SUMMER HOUSE, PRESENT TIME**_

 _ **XX**_

Naruto was about to speak to Ten when he saw who was coming outside of the summer house and groaned _'Good job Ten, now I will have to bear all this bullshit'_

It was Shou Bun Kun who was standing in front of Naruto "I really want to punch you right now"

Naruto sweatdropped at that statement "Well, good thing you are such a benovolent man, you decided to-" Naruto was not allowed to complete his sentence as Shou Bun Kun raised his hand

Shou Bun Kun still wore a stoic look as he spoke "but apparently you have decided to help us, and in that case, it is no longer an option, it is not a choice, you will have to live up to your moniker.. of **The Thousand Man Slayer"**

Ten did not understand why everybody seem to know aniki, but at the moment she was more interested in knowing why Shin and Heki had lost the color of their face

 _ **XXXXXX**_

 _ **A/N : Just like the previous chapter, a little heavy on the plot side, but like I said before, the first arc is a lot of setup for the future plot points, like I said follow, favorite review, especialy review:D,I appreciate it, you could also recommend me some ideas or sources from which I can draw ideas from, until next time**_


	4. the bloody history of the warring states

_**Disclaimer : I don't own Kingdom or Naruto**_

 _ **PREVIOUSLY**_

 _Naruto was about to speak to Ten when he saw who was coming outside of the summer house and groaned 'Good job Ten, now I will have to bear all this bullshit'_

 _It_ _was Shou Bun Kun who was standing in front of Naruto "I really want to punch you right now"_

 _Naruto sweatdropped at that statement "Well, good thing you are such a benevolent man, you decided to-" Naruto was not allowed to complete his sentence as Shou Bun Kun raised his hand_

 _Shou Bun Kun still wore a stoic look as he spoke, "but apparently you have decided to help us, and in that case, it is no longer an option, it is not a choice, you will have to live up to your moniker.. of_ _ **The Thousand Man Slayer"**_

 _Ten did not understand why everybody seem to know aniki, but at the moment she was more interested in knowing why Shin and Heki had lost the color of their face_

 _ **FOUR HOURS LATER**_

 _ **PRESENT TIME**_

 _ **Western China**_

 _ **245 B.C**_

 **Chouga Turf**

There was a reason why, despite having no alliance with the mountain dwellers for the past four hundred years, not even King Sho tried anything when it came to the western mountains of China, part of the reason was their reputation as absolute savages who were not afraid to use their teeth in a sword fight, but it was also due to the fact that from a point of view of a general from the plains, the mountains as a region was a tactical nightmare, not only could you be blindsided due to the dense forest, but your movements could be easily read and predicted due to the various distant high cliffs hidden by the forest

One of these cliffs was being used by a group of men for the exact same purpose; this group was full of well built and tall men with long dark hair arranged in the back. They wore nothing but a cloth around their waist, all of them held different kinds of weapons, from knives to short sword to giant rock mace, and all of them wore masks with different patterns which hid their entire faces

One of the men was kneeling down as he looked at the group that had decided to leave a good chunk of its tired members behind, just like the rest of the group, he was a well built and tall man with long dark hair arranged in the back, just like the rest of them he wore nothing but a cloth around his waist with his two big knives tacked on the back of his belt. His face was hidden by a mask that had a circle around the right eye and on the left five marks in circular patterns and five spikes coming from the top, this man was **Bajio** "வாட் டிடி இ தெள்ள யு தஜிபிக்கு _,_ அபௌட் யூஸிஷனிங் ஓவர் கிங்ஸ் ஜுட்க்மென்ட் (What did I tell you Tajifu? About questioning our king's judgement)"

A massive well built man was standing next to the kneeled man, he too only wore clothes around his waist and had a mask like all of the Mountain people, this man was **Tajifu** "எஸ் எஸ் யு டோன்ட் நீட் டு ரூபி இட் இந்த (Yeah yeah, you don't need to rub it in)"

Bajio chuckled and was about to get up when his eyes caught the sight of a man who was sticking out like a sore thumb due to the color of his hair _"…_ வெள் _,_ ஐசன்ட் தா இன்டெரெஸ்ட்டிங் _,_ சோ யு ஹவ் டிசிடேட் டு ஷோ உப்பு ஹஹ் _?(_ Well, isn't that interesting, so you have finally decided to show up huh? _)_ "

Tajifu was confused by the sudden shift in Bajio's behavior, one could feel the tension in the air around him "வ்தத்ஸ் ஐஸ் தி மேட்டர் பஜ்ஜியோ? (is something the matter, Bajio?)"

Bajio did not reply for a few minutes as he just observed the group on the ground, more importantly the blond in the group, but he finally decided to reply "லேடீஸ் கோ (Lets go.)"

 _ **XX**_

 _ **XXX ROYAL CAPITAL KANKYO, ROYAL PALACE**_

 _ **XX**_

 _ **Qin**_ was the second biggest state in all of China, it controlled nearly a third of all of china, it was considered a major player in all of China, in perspective of history this was a recent development, the date of the beginning of the _**Era of the Warring States**_ was disputed, but what is not disputed is that it truly began only after _**the Division of Jin,**_ the state of _**Jin**_ which was in the peak of its power when it experienced a break in its aristocratic structure _ **,**_ and __in the year of _ **453 B.C**_ experienced one of the biggest civil wars in Chinese history, in the year of _**403 B.C,**_ the state of _**Jin**_ was divided into three successor states, _**Zhao, Han**_ and _**Wei,**_ immediately after which all of the eleven states throughout the whole of China entered a period of non-stop diplomatic, political and military conflict, this period was considered the most brutal and yet the most dynamic part of Chinese history.

At the beginning of the _**Era of the Warring States,**_ there were a total of eleven states but only seven states were considered to be big enough and wealthy enough to have any major impact, these were called _**The Seven Major Warring States,**_ these major states were, _**Qin**_ in the far west of China, in the northeast of Qin were _**The Three Jins**_ , namely _**Han,**_ along the yellow river controlling the eastern approaches to Qin, _ **Wei**_ , in the middle of the three Jins, and _**Zhao**_ , the northern most of the three, in the east was _**Qi**_ , _**Chu**_ in the south of China and _**Yan**_ in the northeast

These were the seven states which were the major contenders of victory in the never ending battles for supremacy, but of all the major states Qin was never taken seriously as a major contender and for good reason

Qin's diplomatic esteem was not anywhere close to that of other state because of Qin's policy of compromise with the barbaric tribes of the western mountains, worse even after subduing twenty of the barbaric tribes they actually integrated them and their practices which caused the central states to despise Qin, some even went as far as not recognizing them as fully Chinese, Qin's lands were not as fertile as those of their counterparts, Qin was in the far west , with its core in the _**Wei River Valley,**_ This position did offer protection from the states of central plains but it also limited Qin's ability to spread their influence on other states, not to mention they were constantly forced to deal with multiple barbarian tribes or the other, so they were always unprepared or underprepared to truly get involved or participate in the affairs of other states, having multiple disadvantages at economic, diplomatic and military front, it was understandable why nobody thought of Qin as a major player rather they were thought of as a backwater Kingdome, semi-barbarians locked away in the far west mountains, but then _He_ showed up.

 _ **King Sho**_ was a through and through radical, but he had a good reason to be so, he had a floundering economy in his hands, in the back of his Kingdome were the barbaric mountain tribes which were less then cooperative, in front of him were the States of Central plains, which despised Qin's existence due to _ **King**_ _**Mu Gong's**_ revolutionary actions of Cooperating with the mountain tribes which helped Qin avoid Clan based Skirmishes, all in all he understood that either Qin had to prosper or it had to die, so he took action

His first course of action was to eliminate the feudal overtones that had been waning for the past four hundred years but still clung on to the daily life, and made himself, The king of Qin, an absolute authority figure, he also redefined the concept of law inside the state of Qin, before his rule the people understood the law as a grossly unfair tool used by the rulers to profit themselves at the expense of the commoners; King Sho made his citizens realize that the Law was equally applicable to anyone and everyone

He also permitted peasants to own the land they clear, another policy that was revolutionary as previously, peasants would be assigned a plot of land and farm it until the end of time; every now and then they would be rewarded for their labour, but whatever they produce belonged to the nobles. By reverting the profits to the peasants, they felt greatly encouraged to produce so they could increase their profits even if they had to pay taxes, this led to a stronger economy and more revenue, revenue that King Sho used entirely for strengthening the military

He also introduced a merit-based system in the military; soldiers would be entitled to privileges only if they achieved certain goals, what royal family you belonged to did not matter, what caste you belonged to did not matter, so long as you got the results you were rewarded, many noble families were against this and were happy when it not yield results but then _**The Black Lancer Unit**_ emerged and proved the merits of the concept

King Sho standardized Agriculture and War industries and logistics, the merit-based system in military and the ability to enjoy the profits of your agricultural produce led to tremendous social mobility like never before, on the surface one would think is that King Sho had incentivized Qin's population to work hard to create a better life for themselves and create a strong economy in the process

But once you look underneath the underneath, you would realize that, King Sho made himself an absolute authority figure of a state whose entire population was willing to completely cooperate with the government, but what he had also done was essentially turn his entire population into either a farmer or soldier, and then you realize why he gained his moniker of _**The God Of War,**_ he made sure that Qin prospered by converting an entire country into a total war footing.

But what King Sho was doing was more than just creating a prosperous country, he was laying the foundations for the conquest of all of China, the thought of a united Chinese kingdom was something that no one dreamed of, but King Sho was a dreamer, under king Sho's rule Qin's size grew tree times its size by annexing multiple kingdoms and became the second largest state in all of china it is today, unfortunately King Sho died before he could realize his dream, his successors could not make use of the foundations that he had laid down, but these foundations still held strong

You would think that the capital of a country that had undergone such a drastic cultural, political and economic reform would be brimming with activity…

You would be wrong.

Despite the rumor of the Coup by the younger brother already circulating, Ketsu Shi was still trying to keep it all under wraps, so he trying to keep a tight lid on the capital by policing it heavily and restricting activity.

You would think that the royal palace where such radical policies were cast out would be restless as it experienced a political turmoil on such scale…

Again, you would be wrong.

Having a centralized structure of power, any rumor could only pick steam if it had enough momentum in the palace, so Ketsu was heavily monitoring the palace as well.

You would think that anyone who wanted to become the next King of Qin and inherit King Sho's legacy would constantly think inheriting King Sho's will and his dreams..

Again, you would be wrong…

Prince Sei Kyou was busy enjoying one of his favourite passtimes..

"NONON-GYAH-"

Watching his _pet_ play with his _toys_

Deep within the palace was a dimly lit room, in the center of it was a traumatizing sight

' **slrup'** That sound came from an ape, a huge ape, you could easily make the mistake of thinking that it was a human because it was wearing a blue hanfu with a black and red belt but it was actually a gorilla like ape, he had a hunched back and large feet with huge toes, he had a dispropotianate body structure which were the reasons for his huge arms which almost reached the ground, right now both his hands were holding one half of a fully grown human body, this creature was _**Rankai,**_ Prince Sei Kyou's pet who just tore a man in half with his bare hands and was now feasting on his flesh.

Above the stairs was a royal seat, behind which many officials stood with sweaty faces, quivering by the brutal sight in front of them, but.."S-Such a magnificent sight… uhh t-truly that was amazing Seikyou-sama." All officials had learned by now that disagreeing with prince Seikyou was not in their best interest to say the least

The man that Rankai just tore apart was part of Shou Bun Kun's faction that were captured and made prisoners just like two men who were standing in front of Rankai, with their arms bound by the ropes around their body

Realizing that his fate was set in stone, he let it out "Curse you Seikyou! You are a traitor to the throne"

Finding his voice after his friend's outburst, he spoke his mind too "Our Lord Shou Bun King will have your head for these crimes!"

Knowing that you were safe was an empowering feeling and one of the officials was definitely feeling it "SILENCE! YOU CURS! YOUR PRECIOUS LORD IS ALREADY DEAD!"

"Wha-" before he could complete his sentence he was grabbed by his feet, it lifted in the air, and slammed hard on the ground and just like that Shou Bun Kun and Sei lost another important comrade of their already weak faction

Tears were streaming down his face as he watched his friend's life come to an end, but he could not voice his pain, for the person who was responsible for all of this spoke for the first time

"Oi, listen carefully, you dogs of Shou Bun Kun.."

On the royal seat lay a young boy, he wore dark blue robes and a headdress befitting of a royalty, he had his head resting in his hand as he spoke with a vicious sneer on his face

"I'm not betraying the country at all, i am just restoring things back to the way they were five years ago"

Unlike what a lot of people thought, Seikyou had actually studied his great grandfather and all his actions, how he used rewards and punishment to turn his population into functioning human beings, after studying all of it extensively Seikyou came to his own conclusion

 _ **Common People were disgusting greedy pigs**_ that could not tame their own lust for power and that it was the responsibility of the royalty to tame its population and dictate their actions so as to create a better functioning society, only the blood of royalty was capable of doing such a tremendous task, his great grandfather was proof of that; that is why the royalty deserved all the privileges and all the wealth in the world, they were the reason people were able to prosper, they were the reason why there was such a thing as a country

Seikyou always thought that he was meant to do great things, everybody around him said that all the time, and it had to be true since they were willing to do everything he asked of them, from commoners to officials, at one point he made the officials that were his followers form a bridge by standing in the water and bowing forward, despite there being a bridge less than twenty meters away, he did that because he could and because he wanted to show them that he could, he did not quite understand what happened, but something in their eyes bothered him ever since, but then _He_ appeared

Seikyou was not aware that he had an elder brother but apparently he did, because his father had been smitten by some dancer girl whose identity was kept secret due to her status as it _should_ have been, but then she was officially recognized as a queen and with that Ei Sei became a legitimate heir to the throne

Ei Sei, son of a dancer girl was a legitimate heir to the throne and he, Sei kyou, the one who had the pure blood of royalty running throuh his veins and yet he was taking a backseat to a son of a dancing girl..

Sei kyou's sneer became a lot more cold _**'I will not accept that'**_

 _ **XX**_

 _ **XXX HALF AN HOUR LATER, WITH NARUTO AND GROUP**_

 _ **XX**_

"Tch"

Shou Bun Kun was panting heavily as we walked along side Naruto, he was realizing what old age does the hard way as he tried to keep up with the pace of the young king and youngster Shin and Ten, Sei had decided that he did not want to wait and wanted to reclaim the throne as soon as possible, his reson being that the war that was about to break between Pm Ryo and Pm Ketsu could bring the kingdom of Qin to its knees and Sei would not allow that, Shou Bun Kun tried to deter the young king by reminding him that they barely had any men left, at which point the king suggested to meet with the mountain dwellers

Shou Bun Kun would have vehemently refused to take such actions, but after listening to everything that Naruto had to say about the happening in the western mountains, Shou Bun Kun agreed that it was well worth a try

"Damn it"

Now Shou Bun Kun was getting irritated, for the past twenty minutes the blond next to him would click his tongue or use profanities

"What is it?" Shou Bun Kun asked, clearly irritated

Naruto looked at Shou Bun Kun with a look that said 'You can't be serious?' before a look of understanding came on his face "Ahh! Figures, you have gotten old, you really are not built for this as you are now, old man"

A tick mark appeared on the Shou Bun Kun's forehead "What does that have to do with anything?!"

A serious look came on Naruto's face as he looked ahead while answering the question "We are being surrounded"

Loud warning bells rang inside the old man's head as he visibly reacted to that piece of information, he was about to react verbally as well before Naruto grabbed his forearm rather harshly to the point that it hurt

"Don't lose your shit old man, you will make things worse" Shou Bun Kun grunted as quietly as he could before he calmed down as Naruto loosened his grip on his forearm

"So what now?" Shou Bun Kun had accepted the fact that him and Naruto were not cut from the same cloth, Naruto had proven to him a long time ago that when it came to the battlefield, he could be relied upon

But Naruto crashed his expectations spectacularly "Now nothing"

Before Shou Bun Kun could pop a vein Naruto raised his hand to stop him "Don't give me that, I will be short on my fingers if I start counting the number of possible blindspots that these Mountain dwellers can exploit, while my single hand would be enough to count the number of soldiers we have right now"

Shou Bun Kun grit his teeth and was about to try refute his claims, but Naruto did not let him "Not to mention, your soldiers are beaten and broken and their main source of morale, their captain is having a crisis of his identity as a soldier"

' _of course, this brat is going to pick up on that'_ Shou Bun Kun thought in grim amusement as he shook is head

Naruto ran his hand through his hair as he spoke "For the past twenty minutes I have been noticing movements and I have been thinking of some way to get an upper hand as far as this situation is concerned but I can't find any openings, not with these numbers"

Now Shou Bun Kun was bewildered "How can you think of upper hand in a situation like this, we should be thinking of getting out"

Naruto did not stop running his hand through his hair as he shook his head in disagreement "I doubt we can out run Mountain dwellers in Mountains of all places, not to mention if they wanted us dead, they really did not need to be as subtle as they are being right now, they are trying to corner us and put us in a situation where we won't have a choice in the matter if we want our heads on our shoulder, we would have to follow all the conditions that they set on us, and now old man, right now there is only one person in our group who is worth all that effort"

Shou Bun Kun was having a hard time breathing when the implication of Naruto's words became clear to him "H-His Majesty" Shou Bun Kun

Naruto nodded as he finally got his hand out of his hair "Best case scenario, they are trying to isolate the king, so they can get some ridiculous terms for this alliance, worst case… Yeah"

Shou Bun Kun was very well aware of the worst possible case, but one thing still did not add up "How are they even aware of our predicament, let alone our presence?"

Naruto glanced at Shou Bun Kun briefly as he answered the question "You better start taking these guys seriously, I told you they are more ambitious than ever before"

Before Naruto could say anything, in front of him, a masked head pops out of a bush in some short distance, and then he saw several masked heads do the same

Naruto and Shou Bun Kun wore wide eyed expression as Naruto spoke "Well… atleast the jig is up I guess"

A full tense minute or two passed as the mountain dwellers started closing the distance as did Naruto as he stood next to Sei

"one minute we were moving and the next we are surrounded by these savages, just what..." Heki was panting heavily with gritted teeth, fear and worry etched on his face

"My king, they more than likely have come for you, so..." Naruto's words alarmed everyone, but only one decided to take action

Bajio was stepping forward to tell the group in front of him, the situation they were in, but he stopped moving as his path was blocked by a young boy who was standing on his tip toes as he attempted to make a scary face as he spoke through gritted teeth "Who you looking at huuuuh?"

If it was possible for jaws to hit the floor, they would have, for Ten, Heki and Naruto stood back gaping with their jaws open, Heki was the first to get his wits back as he moved quick on his feet and grabbed Shin by his hair and started to drag him back

Shin did not know what the deal was, he thought he did well, as he glared at Heki while rubbing at the sore spot on his head, Shin wanted to flip Heki off, but he was not allowed to do that as the man he had planned to confront was once again heading towards them

Heki had an image of Mountain dwellers, he had always thought of them as a pack of savages, wolves in human skin, so it would be an understatement to say that he was feeling the most uncomfortable, it was about to be turned into astonishment though

"You are intruding on our lands" Never in his wildest dreams did Heki imagined that he would meet a Mountain Dweller, much less a talking one, not in his own mother tongue at least, unfortunately for Heki, his astonishment was about to be turned into dread however, as the talking Mountain Dweller spoke

"We kill the plain dwellers by digging their eyes out and throwing them down a waterfall..."

Heki was no longer uncomfortable, he was downright petrified, Ten was whimpering and Shin was having a hard time getting words out of his mouth

"... However, since you have journeyed all the way here to meet our leader, we will decide what to do with you after hearing your reason for coming"

Heki had finally got some nerve back in him "H-How do you know that we came to meet your leader"

Bajio had a simple answer, "Our leader knows everything"

Bajio looked straight at the boy dressed in royal red robes as he spoke "Young king of Qin, Our leader awaits you, we will escort you to our city"

Shou Bun Kun first regarded Naruto ahead of him before looking back at Bajio, _'So Naruto was right about the Mountain Dwellers'_ Shou Bun Kun had taken an official position for a reason, he was well versed in reading between the lines, he could pick out the thinly veiled threats that were made to them, unfortunately Shin did not possess such talent

Shin walked past Bajio with his hands behind his head "Why did you not say that in the first place, we got worked up fo-" Shin could not complete his sentence as he was grabbed by his hair as thrown back, he would have hit his head against a stone on the ground if it wasn't for Naruto who caught him

Bajio folded his arms as he spoke again "Our interest is in the King, none of you interest us, leave the mountains immediately"

Shou Bun Kun gritted his teeth, even if Naruto had made him aware of something like this happening, knowing about a situation and being in a situation were two different things

Shin was rubbing the sore spot on his head as he asked the question that was on everyone's mind "..What if we refuse?"

Bajio did not hesitate to give the answer that he gave "Then all of you will die"

"We will not allow any plain dweller that does not interest us in our lands, leave these lands at once or we will slaughter all of you without mercy"

Shou Bun Kun was about to explode with fury, but Naruto rose his hands all the while looking straight ahead _'What are you playing at, Naruto'_

Naruto glanced at Sei for a few moments before he looked ahead "While it is good to know tha-" "You will be coming with us as well"

Naruto thought he heard something wrong and he said as much "I am sorry, i did not get that, what were you saying"

Bajio pointed straight at him as he said "You! The man with the blond hair, is going to come with us as well"

Naruto did not like this "Ah! You must be mistaken, i'm just a peasant soldier, the one you are looking for is captain Shou Bun Kun" Naruto pointed at the old man who nodded eagerly when addressed

Bajio shook his head "No, i am not mistaken, the king of Qin and You will come with us, the rest of you, leave"

Shou Bun Kun felt like pulling his hair off, he was having a hard time comprehending this situation, and from the look that Naruto had on his face, it looked like he was in a similar predicament

' _This is bad'_ Naruto thought to himself, the worst case scenario was that 'The King of The Mountains' wanted a piece of him _'But they should have been anticipating the king and not me, how exactly do i fit in all of this'_ Naruto decided to take a gamble

Naruto pointed uncertainly at the masked man in front of him "uh.. Do i know you?" Naruto asked, hoping that he won't make a tit of himself or make the situation worse than it already was, but of all the reaction he was expecting, laughter was not one of them, it did not sound like a laugh because there was barely any, but his rapidly moving shoulder did indicate that he was laughing, but he stopped sudenely

"Heh, no you don't know me, and no wonder you don't, you don't exactly 'look' at the people you are facing after all" you would have missed it if you were not looking keenly for it, but if you did, you could listen some semblance of bitterness in his voice

Shou Bun Kun was angry, and he became even more angry when he saw the confused look on Naruto's face _'Damn you, and your habits, the fact that you are unaware of it still just makes me mad all the more'_

"Uhh.. I don't know what is going on he-" Naruto stopped mid sentence as he raised his twisted right hand to catch the sword that was coming for his head, his left hand was holding the forearm of the the attacker which had come from the side to cleave him in half, the sharpness in Naruto's eyes had risen as he saw the state of his hand that was holding the blade before he regarded his attacker _'This guy is strong'_ Naruto did not have time to dwell on his bleeding hand as the other mountain dwellers took Bajio's attack as a command to attack as they let out a battle cry

"T-This is bad isn't it?" Ten stuttered, Ten knew she was more than just out of depth here

Shin took a stance as he readied himself, call him crazy but he was excited, despite the situation he found himself happy on some level, he knew that his fight with Naruto had changed him, it became even more clear when he fought the assassin in Kokuhi village, he was not stronger or faster than before, and yet Shin felt that there was more weight behind his swings, there was less hesitation in his swings, Shin was feeling a burning sensation inside him as the mountain dweller closed the distance…

And Sei poured cold water on Shin's sensation "STOP!"

Nobody thought that the voice of a mere boy could have so much authority in it, enough that it stopped virtually everyone stopped for a moment, and the few overzealous mountain dwellers were stopped by Bajio's silent command

Sei addressed everyone on his side while still regarding Bajio "Put away your weapons, I will do as these people have asked and meet their leader alone"

Shou Bun Kun was the first to respond "Your majesty you must not, we will carve a path of blood out of here if we need to, please think this through"

Sei shook his head "It is impossible to avoid the mountain folks, not to mention we need the help of mountain folks, if we are to reclaim the throne before it is too late"

Sei turned back to address his group "All soldiers are to descend and await my return at the shrine! That is an order!"

Shou Bun Kun looked at the king helplessly "..your majesty.."

Bajio had withdrawn his blades and took a few steps back as he folded his arms "hurry up, King of Qin and you too, the pretty man"

Naruto's face was blank as his long bangs casted a shadow on his face as he shook silently

' _uh oh'_ was the collective thought of Shin,Sei,Ten and Shou Bun Kun, they held their breath in anticipation, watinng for Naruto's next move

Fortunately for them, all Naruto did was take a deep breath and put on a smile that screamed _'you got lucky this time'_ but all Naruto said was "sure"

Sei let out a sign of relief before he nodded at Bajio "We will proceed now"

 _ **XX**_

 _ **XXX TWENTY MINUTES LATER**_

 _ **XX**_

"Damn it! The King had to do that for our sake, what a disgrace!" Heki said what was on everyone's mind

Ten tried to be the optimist "B-But atleast he was invited by their leader… they wouldn't harm him right?"

Shou Bun Kun growled in annoyance as he massaged one his sore legs"What I don't understand is why did they take Naruto with them? That was no invitation, that was kiddnaping"

Shin looked at Shou Bun Kun as if he said something crazy, before he slapped his forehead "Oh Shit!"

Ten nearly jumped at Shin's loud outburst "What the Hell! What's wrong with you?"

Shin ignored Ten's comment as he grabbed Ten by the shoulders "Didn't Naruto-bro said that most of the mountain dwellers want him dead"

Ten was a little too busy trying to get out of Shin's grip "No, he said most of the "King of Mountain tribes" that were worth mentioning wanted him dead… oh crap…" Now Ten had the same look of horror that Shin had, the look was shared by Shou Bun Kun and Heki

"What the hell are you talking about" Shou Bun Kun wanted to be certain about what was going on because their next course of action was going to be crucial

Shin and Ten told them everything that Naruto had told them and by the end of it Shou Bun Kun ended up massaging his temple "Of all the things holy…" he continued to do so before he looked at Shin in sudden interest

Shin was close to losing it at this point "Oh man this guy-" for some reason Shin felt like ducking was in his best interest and he did, that was the right decision as it saved his head from getting separated from his body, he looked at Shou Bun Kun in anger "Hey! What's the id-" he could not complete that sentence as he had to dodge another swing because the alternative was getting cleaved in half

"Enough of this Bullshit!" what happened next surprised everyone, including Shin, when he saw Shou Bun Kun with both his arms raised for performing a downward slash with his head as a the target, he did not draw his sword, he did not even use it with its sheath on, what he did was wait for the right moment as he twisted both his arms and grabbed Shou Bun Kun's right forearm with his left twisted arm and grabbed his left forearm with his right

' _How did he/I do that?'_ Those were the collective thought that ran through the heads of Shin, Heki and Ten

Ten was especially surprised _'I normally can't follow Aniki's moves, but that definitely looked a lot similar, granted, he generally grabs the swords and is relentless after doing so'_

Unlike them Shou Bun Kun despite the situation he was in had a small smirk on his face "Heh no wonder he took interest in you and has taken a liking to you, your resolve is not half bad," he took a step back but stumbled and had to go down on his one knee to avoid falling on his back "Dammit"

Shin was uncertain about how to react, wheather to help the old man or be on his guard but he did not have to be in that predicament for long as Shou Bun Kun addressed him himself "If I understand this correctly then you have decided to be his majesty's sword in return of the promises you have gotten out of him, so go after him"

Shin was confused and he expressed as much "Say what now?"

Shou Bun Kun gritted his teeth in pain as he spoke "It pains me to say this, but right now you are more useful to him than me as far as his protection is concerned, so go and chase after them, people may not realize it now, but his majesty has everything it takes to surpass every king in the history of Qin and that includes _**God Of War King Sho,**_ he needs to be protected at all costs"

Everyone gasped at that declaration, the resolve with which he said it, that would have been an outlandish claim if it wasn't for the man who was making it and how he made it

Shou bun Kun was being helped by two of his soldiers on his feet "I.. I want to apologise for Hyou…it was not meant to happen like that.. I am sorry"

Shin looked down at the ground clenching his fist before he looked up at Shou Bun Kun "You didn't have to tell me old man, I was going after them anyway"

Shou Bun Kun nodded at that "Then what are you waiting for, go after them you fool, and take Heki with you"

Ten was on her feet as well "I will go as well"

Shin looked at Heki straight in the eyes, "I know Ten can pick his weight just fine, but I am not sure about you, but I will tell you right now that if you are not able to keep up then I will leave you behind, I plan to catch up with them in no time"

 _ **XX**_

 _ **XXX TWO DAYS LATER**_

 _ **XX**_

"If this was your plan to catch up with Aniki and Sei then I will tell you now it worked and it still sucks" Ten had difficulty in saying all of that, for her head and arms, just like Shin and Heki were trapped by pillory, a few moments ago they were wheeled in inside a _Freaking palace_ of mountain people, they were placed right in front of Sei and Naruto

Naruto gave a sideways glance with a look that screamed 'You idiots' before looking ahead, more importantly at the king of the mountain tribes

' _I know this situation is dangerous and yet I don't know why I am not feeling threatened, rather I am feeling really uncomfortable'_

if nothing else Naruto was sure that the Next hour was going to be interesting to say the least

 _ **xxxxxxx**_

 _ **To be continued**_

 _ **xxxxxxx**_

 _ **A.N :- Hey guys, hope you liked the chapter, favorite,follow and review, especially review because I like reading them, but I needed some advice, but before I do that think it would be better if I gave a preface**_

 _ **So I am a big Naruto fan, and became a big kingdom fan recently, pretty much binged the whole series, I always wanted to write Naruto fanfic, particularly crossovers, the entire reason I am writing this is because I want to write the coalition arc, in my opinion that is one of the greatest arcs in manga history, now whether we reach that far is an entirely different story because I learned the hard way that writing a fanfiction that is not a complete waste of time is difficult lol**_

 _ **So what I needed the advice for is this, I plan to entrench Naruto completely into the Kingdom lore, to the point that you would not be able to imagine the Kingdom without him, a few weeks ago, it got me thinking about I should go about doing that, I have two options I could either make him the captain and Shin his subordinate or I could make them both completely independent of each other**_

 _ **Now I see the merits and demerits of both of those approaches, it would be interesting to the mentor-student relationship of Naruto and Shin, it would be nice to write a badass Shin who does not make a fool of himself just to explain a plot point and it would also help to illustrate how much he know his stuff and how badass he really is, but on the other hand, Shin throughout the series has this wiered role which is insignificant enough that nobody in the series notices it but significant enough that the series would not go in the direction that it does if Shin did not do what he does, if i make Naruto his mentor then what I can do with the story becomes limited because if Shin does not do what he does in canon then the series would lose structure**_

 _ **Now on the other hand, if I make Naruto a completely independent entity, then I can play around a lot with the arcs without disturbing history too much or even canon for that matter, the Sanyou arc and the coalition arc would be much more interesting to write, but at the same time it would require a lot of work establishing the original characters for Naruto's unit and I would have to spend less time on Shin and his unit, which would suck because I do want to write Shin**_

 _ **So tell me what you think, which approach I should choose, give me a reason why, and if possible give me some ideas for plotpoints too if you can, if I like them I would use them,**_

 _ **Again, thank you for reading, favorite,follow and review, especially review because I like reading them**_


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